The Sharingan of the Crimson Princess
by Arcreed
Summary: Fate is a cruel concept. Fate causes siblings to kill each other. Fate turns friends into enemies. However, Fate also what causes the meeting between people. Fate gives the chance to forge a brand new relationship. This is the story of a person who has discarded his happiness for peace and gains a chance to find a new happiness in a new world.
1. A New Beginning for the Great Hero

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own NARUTO or High school DxD.**

 **It's been a long time, has it not, everyone? For you who already know about me, I'm back and sorry to make you wait. For people who didn't know me, welcome. Some of you might know this, couple of months ago I got flamed and trolled by unknown reviewers, and I got very emotional and took my stories down to stop the trolls. Originally I was planning to post all my stories in spacebattle forum, but after spending some times there I gotta say that it's not exactly user-friendly for reading stories. Truebaldy came to me and offered to post my stories using his account, and I am really grateful to him for doing that. After having some discussions with him about the reviews he got, I realized that I still love fanfic and its community. He suggested that I should try -reposting the 1** **st** **chapter to see the reactions from the people and if the trolls have die out.**

 **As for users who emailed me asking for permissions, etc., I'm very sorry for not replying to you. I changed the login email to another to prevent seeing anymore troll emails in my main email inbox, and I forgot that I changed the login email until recently when I tried to login to the website. Also, I am still fixing the plot holes and errors in my stories, and it might take a while to finish all of them considering how works are robbing me of my free time and giving me a slow and painful death (especially since I have to fly back and forth from Asia to Europe at least once a month).**

 **So do you want me to finish fixing the errors in the entire story first and re-post all the chapters in one go, or do you want me to finish it chapter by chapter and re-post the chapters one by one?**

 **Also, to the person who is writing another version of my story (you know who you are), keep up the nice work.**

 **xxx**

 **Fate is a cruel concept. Fate causes siblings to kill each other. Fate turns friends into enemies. However, Fate also what caused the meeting between people. Fate gives the chance to forge a brand new relationship. This is the story of a person who discards his happiness for peace and gains a chance to find a new happiness in a new world.**

xxx

"Tsukuyomi!" = Normal Talking

" _ **Tsukuyomi!"=**_ Jutsu/Magic/Techniques

" _Tsukuyomi!"=_ Thought

" **Tsukuyomi!" =** Dragon/Sacred Gear talking

xxx

Chapter 1

 **A new beginning for the great hero**

xxx

"I will always love you."

As the last of those words came out of his mouth with a tinge of comfort, the man could feel the chains that were trapping him in life shattered into million of pieces. Gently staring at his younger brother's expression, he had no doubt that the journey ahead would be a heavy and perilous one for him, yet his heart was filled with hope that the future that his brother would face would be a gentle one, because he knew _that person_ would be able to accomplish what he could not do in his life and return his brother to the light that he had forsaken.

" _It's alright,"_ he thought, as his sight grew dimmer by each passing second. _"Naruto will definitely save you."_

With that passing thought, he smiled, both for his brother and for himself, knowing that his will had been passed on to the next generation.

As the voices of men and women who were once and would always be dear to him called for him to join them, the man closed his eyes and let his soul drifted to the sea of souls within the pure world once again.

xxx

The sound of a roar in the distance reached the man's ears, causing him to stir slightly in annoyance. It sounded a bit strange, however, as there was nothing majestic about this roar. In fact it sounded more like a voice of a delinquent that he used to meet when he was a child singing a song while screaming at the top of his lungs at the same time. However, annoyance soon turned to confusion as a sensation that he should no longer be able to feel ran through his very being. With hesitation, he slowly opened his eyes and obtained his answer.

He was _alive_.

At the very least, he was conscious.

" _Wha…_?" Once again, the young man felt prickly sensation all over his body, but it only served to cement his suspicion that he was, for worse or better, _alive_. He knew he was alive because souls were incapable of feeling pains and all kinds of sensations that physical body would normally have.

" _Where am I?"_ the young man questioned, trying his best to move his stiff neck. _"_ _Did someone summon me using the impure world resurrection again?"_

He immediately discarded that notion. Those who were summoned using the impure world resurrection were not alive. They were merely souls that were forcibly tied to the physical world using 'dolls' that acted as substitute bodies.

'Dolls' that could not feel pain or any sensation at all.

He did not discard the theory that he, or more accurately his soul, might have been summoned again. For what purpose, though, he had no idea.

" _I should've taken precautions…to let my soul be summoned again…"_ the young man silently berated himself. But the moment he was able to slightly move his neck to take in the sight and try to gain an understanding of his current situation, his body went stiff from surprise and disbelief.

In front of him, there was a multitude of giant object being dyed by _panorama of colors_ that covered the entire space.

Mustering his strength, the young man tried his best to speak even a single word. " _Is this…what the afterlife looks like?"_ That was what the young man thought he had said. He did not realize that voice did not come out of his mouth, but he wouldn't care had he even realized that because of how surreal the scenery before his eyes was.

The young man mentally smacked himself. In the pure world, souls were kept in slumber, while waiting for the day they would be reincarnated back into the living world. At least, if those religious scrolls he had read contained a sliver of truth in them, that was what should have happened to the souls of living beings after their deaths.

His train of thought was distracted the moment he heard that _unusual_ roar again. Unlike before, it sounded much closer to his location. Whatever it was, lying still wouldn't help. At the very least he had to find somewhere to hide, if there were anywhere to hide.

He tried to turn his neck to the other side, but the extreme fatigue that he felt made such a simple task much harder. He tried to move his hands and legs next, but he failed to do it as well.

" _…_ _At least they're there,"_ the man could only make a sarcastic remark at his condition before trying once again, this time with his feet.

As he desperately continued to find out which parts of his body were at least functioning, an object that looked like a mountain yet made entirely of glass floated in front of him. Then, he saw it.

Through a panorama akin to that of a kaleidoscope, he saw his own reflection.

His body, if it could be called that, was not there. It was not because he was in someone else's body. No, it was the fact that his body was so translucent that it almost looked as if it had no material substance whatsoever. Like it was made of someone's illusion.

It was almost completely transparent to the point that he could almost see the things behind him.

His confusion and anxiety only stayed for a brief moment as a massive red object made its way above his head.

" _What is that?"_ His answer immediately came in the form of a massive red lizard with a pair of wings, which it used, either intentionally or unintentionally, to blow him away with a flap of its wings.

The man gritted his teeth, preparing for the incoming damage to his body. However, to his surprise, he was not injured in any way, most likely due to the state he was in right now.

Turning back his sight to the red creature, the man began to analyse it, trying to gain as much information as possible. " _This thing…. It's easily outmatched most of the tailed beasts in term of size alone."_

It was a red creature so big in size that he could not see the entirety of its body.

The creature made a sudden turn, in what the man could only perceive as 'hectic flying', and finally he could see what the creature actually was.

" _An…oversized lizard?"_

Despite calling it a lizard, the man could see that it looked quite similar to mythical creatures known as _ryū_ , which often appeared in advance shinobi jutsus. In fact, it didn't seem farfetched to him to call it a variation of those creatures.

The lizard's head suddenly snapped to the man's direction as if it was seemingly able to hear his thought.

" _…"_ The man warily stared at the thing on the eyes, but decided that it would be better to test his theory rather than knowing nothing about this thing. _"You can hear me, can't you?"_

As if to answer the young man's question, the creature roared. This time he would definitely be blown away, so the man thought.

That was what probably would have happened if he was not covered by a bone-like structure which completely shielded him from the force of the creature's roar.

The creature looked surprised for a second, if the widening of its eyes was any indication. However, the young man did not notice this because of a greater concern.

" _This is…Susano'o? How did it activate on its own?"_ the young man questioned _._ However, the young man's confusion, which grew even larger every second, was cut short as the lizard then focused its eyes upon his.

In that brief moment, he could feel that his mind was being probed. He could sense the memories of events that had happened in his life were being examined thoroughly and, on its part, the creature seemed intrigued by what it was seeing.

The man tried to push the lizard out of his mind, but it merely prompted the lizard to snort at him arrogantly instead.

Knowing that he was unable to push the lizard out of his mind, the man instead let a certain opinion of his to be known.

"… _Your breath smells like a combination of rotten egg and meat."_

That got it. It looked pissed and, without a doubt, that was the reason it probed into his mind even deeper.

It wasn't like he could smell anything, really. However, he could tell from experience that many creatures as big as this had nasty breath that could knock out those who were unprepared.

Its annoyance, however, soon ended and it was replaced with curiosity once again.

After a while, the sensation had finally ended, which told the man that this lizard, this _beast,_ had pulled itself out of his mind.

" _…How much did you see?"_ asked the man. It was useless to ask what it saw, as it had clearly seen the memories of his life as a shinobi. The question was, how much in detail did it actually see.

The beast's lips curled up ever so slightly.

" **Interesting…"**

Surprisingly, while the voice sounded calm and powerful, it had a hint of juvenile and delinquency in it that made the man pondered if it was actually still a youngling in its species.

This time red lights appeared around him, and he could feel great powers surrounding him. The red lights came into one and when it started to envelop him, the man wondered, and slightly worried, what the creature was trying to do.

Slowly, he could feel something entered his body and then it started to overwhelm him. It was similar to the sensation that one would have when one drown in water, where the water would enter the body forcefully. The only difference was that this one didn't feel painful in any way.

He wanted to know what exactly did it do to him; however, his thought was cut short as he slowly drifted to unconsciousness. The man then fell through a hole while still being enveloped by the red light.

Unfortunately, he missed the last thing that the _beast_ said as it saw his body floating away in the distant.

" **Show me more interesting stuffs…Uchiha Itachi."**

xxx

"Heh~, I have to say…that was quite a fascinating turn of event."

A voice entered the man's ears.

He felt there was someone or something that was toying with him.

First, he was woken up with a roar, and then he lost his consciousness again after that large beast did something to him, and now he was woken up with a voice of someone talking alone.

He could almost see a pattern here, and if someone challenged him to a bet, he would take that something would happen to him again.

"How do you feel meeting one of the greatest manifestations of _power_? Did you feel awe? Frightened? Jealous? Anxious? Or none of those?"

He had no idea what this person was saying, but he, for certain, was feeling impatience and frustrated at the lack of answers to his situation.

He had to admit, though; this person's voice sounded very unsettling to him.

In all his life the man had encountered various types of personalities. No matter how unexpressive someone was, or how hard they tried to hide their emotions, he had always been able to pinpoint how they felt from their voice, from the ever slightly changes in the person's tone.

But the person who was talking to him right now sounded…wrong.

That was the only way he could describe it.

'It' perhaps was the best way to identify the person… _the thing_ that was speaking to him. It was because he could not determine the gender of this person, which sounded like both a man and a woman, yet he also felt like it would be wrong to associate this person with such _human_ concept.

However, that wasn't the thing that bothered him the most.

It was the number of emotions this thing had when talking.

It was as if there were multiple individuals, each with their own feelings, talking through the same mouth.

It was a mixture of varying degrees of human emotions, yet at the same time it was completely remote from what emotion humans could possibly have.

"Did you know how much of a hassle it was for me to put you there and pull you out after? If I sent you the way you were, the laws of that world would've crushed you _again._ While it could be interesting to see you fall into the pit of despair for the second time, and the kind of ruin that you would bring this time, it'd be a pain to get another one as a replacement."

Replacement? Laws of that world?

As the man pondered about those words, he could see what appeared to be a greenish white ball of light coming closer to him through his closed eyelids.

"Don't bother thinking. You could never understand what I meant or the significance of me involving myself in the current era where the world is influenced by magic and the supernaturals the way you are now. That's why, do me a favour and take care of _this_ for me, will you? If you think it's too much pain to do it, lets just make this your payment to me for letting you out of that place."

Wondering what nonsense this person was talking about, the man noticed that the ball of light gradually coming closer to him.

"By the way, don't bother trying to remember everything that I've said, since this little _thing_ will _end_ your memory of our fun little chat."

The next moment, he could see what appeared to be hands pushing down the ball of light into his stomach.

At that moment, if he had control over his body, without a doubt, he would have started to trash around and threw up the content of his stomach continuously.

It was as if something foreign was forcefully inserted into him.

The closest comparison would be regarding the effect of replacing an organ within a human with that of animal.

For example, while livers of humans and gorillas had the same function, the similarity ended there. The structures were different, and if a gorilla's liver were to be transplanted upon a human, it would cause a strong rejection from the body, because it was incompatible to begin with.

What happened to the man was similar, except a thousand time worse.

His very being was burning.

His very being was drowning.

His very being was torn apart.

His very being was crushed by an unnatural existence.

And then he would be stitched and moulded back to normal again, and then it happened again.

He was destroyed, and then he was restored.

Destroyed, and then restored again.

Again and again.

It kept repeating without ever slowing down.

Yet he did not break.

His soul did not break or even scarred in the slightest.

The strength of his will prevented him from breaking.

Even when being subjected to this unreasonable torture where death would look like a gift from heaven, his soul kept shining brilliantly.

Even in this moment, where losing one's sanity would be a form of salvation, there was no sign of him letting go of his 'self'.

He withstood it all.

"There, done. How was it? Was it too arduous for…nevermind. You looked no different than before, I might say."

There was a hint of amusement mixed with interest and respect in that voice. However, the man could no longer register every little detail of what it said, as he was barely able to cling to his own consciousness.

"Well, then. Off you go. I've set a destination for you. Don't worry; you shouldn't have any problems if it's with that man. After all, he is _an inheritor of your will of fire_."

He could feel his mind starting to become hazy, and then, as he had predicted before, he lost his consciousness again.

...

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"…Maybe I should've said third life instead? Oh well, doesn't matter. I wonder what that one's doing right now?"

xxx

The sound of water flowing, the tingling yet soft sensation of grass, and the smell of a well-managed soil greeted his worn out body.

It felt nice.

How long had it been since he experienced all of this without the smell of blood tainting it?

To the more pressing matter, however, how did he arrive here?

All he could remember was being in that place, wherever it was, and facing that huge winged-lizard before he lost his consciousness.

"Was it all…a dream?"

He blinked after he heard his own voice.

He was able to talk again.

But, oddly enough, his voice sounded a lot younger than it was supposed to be. He shoved that curiosity to the back of his head for he needed to know if his mouth was the only thing that worked properly.

"… _My hands…I can move them…and my feet…no problem, either."_

Slowly, he opened his eyes, but he instantly closed it again as the light of the sun shone directly into his vision. Turning his face to the side this time, he opened his eyes again and, while it took a bit of time for his eyes to adjust to the light, he could finally see everything, including the place where he was laying.

"Am I in someone's garden?" His eyes took in the scenery in front of him, and he was impressed by what he saw.

There was a finely designed fountain made from white marble, several beds of flowers with many kinds of flower that he had never seen before, and there was a white pavilion in the distance which was large enough to fit at least a dozen people.

He turned his face to the other side, and he raised his eyebrows immediately.

It looked like the garden he was in was inside some sort of a castle. A beautifully designed castle too, he might add.

While it was built with the same white stone as the pavilion, it was decorated with various mineral stones which he wasn't familiar with. However, one thing for sure, whoever decorated this castle had a thing for crimson colored stones.

His ears twitched as he heard someone's footsteps. He tried to stand up and ran, but failed as his body was too exhausted to even do something as simple as that.

As the footsteps were slowly coming closer, he switched to a more _tactical_ retreat.

He closed his eyes…and pretended to be dead.

"Oh? Now this is interesting…"

He could hear a man's voice from above him. For some reason, he just knew that associating himself with the owner of this voice would only spell troubles for him. Not to mention, he could sense from the man's jovial voice that he most likely was a bit of a loose cannon. In other words, he felt he had to prepare himself to deal with a potentially moronic enemy.

"I was sure that the security in this place is top notch, with detection barrier and so on activated. Moreover, my dear _queen_ was the one who made this barrier. It should not be possible for anyone to enter this place without her knowing it," the man boasted. He simply remained still while absorbing what he heard.

The man seemed like he was waiting for a response, but when he didn't get any, his face drew closer to him.

"Hey, are you asleep?"

No response.

"Wake up~, I have candy with me~."

He had no interest in sweets other than dango.

"I have deluxe figurines of Goku and Vegeta~! You're jealous, right?"

He didn't even have a clue what the hell the man was talking about.

"What about this?! The pictures of Ria-tan that I've captured with my special custom camera that could take pictures in any kind of situation! Ah~, Ria-tan, you're so cute~, smoooooooo~ch~!"

For some reason, he really wanted to throw the man into a garbage bin.

After that, the man continued trying to wake him up, but he simply ignored him.

And then…

"Please, please wake up! I don't want to be accused of murdering some unknown brat in my own house! Please!"

The man begged him while bowing deeply into the ground.

…

…

…..

He sweatdropped.

"…If it comes to this…I have no choice but to destroy the evidence. Farewell, unknown young man whom I just met less than 15 minutes ago, may you have a better life in the next world."

"And what exactly were you planning to do to this unknown young man?"

He sensed that the situation had gotten out of control, and thus he finally spoke.

He opened his eyes, and slowly directed his gaze upward, and he finally saw the surprised face of the fool who was holding a shovel in his hand.

"…."

"…"

"What's that in your hand?"

"O-Ah! This? Well…it was such a nice weather to tend to my beloved flowers, and I was just about to plant some compost for them~. You mind joining me?" the man said with a really bright smile.

"…Should I take that as your way of saying that you were about to bury me…alive?"

In a speed that not even he could follow, the man went back to bow his head. "I'm very sorry! I honestly thought you were dead!"

Sighing, he felt that this conversation was even more tiring than most of his battle.

"I'm not angry, really. So, please lift your face, your tears are spraying all over my face…"

"Huh, okay. So, that means case closed~," the man said, instantly standing straight with a big smile and without any sense of remorse for what he was about to do.

" _That was fast."_

Even he had to admit, he had never seen anyone as fast as this man was in term of complete change of reactions.

Sighing again, while trying to throw out any built-up migraine, he finally got a good look at the man's face.

He had a young look, but not young enough to be called a teenager. He was a young adult, at least in his early to mid-twenties. He had an expression which could be said to be very friendly, with radiating, yet somehow moronic, smile decorating his face.

He had no doubt that this man had a very lazy attitude in life.

However, those were not the most striking things about the man.

The one thing that truly kept his eyes glued upon the man was his long crimson-colored hair. It reminded him slightly of a certain leader that he used to work with.

"Please forgive my earlier rudeness. I was simply trying to ascertain that you were not…an enemy."

"Enemy? Me?" The man began to laugh, causing him to raise his brow.

"Is there something strange with what I've said?"

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just, if a boy like you is still worried about facing enemies, it seems like we still have a long way to go to achieve our dreams."

Did he mishear that?

"I don't think I'm young enough to be called a boy."

"Wise man in a child's body? Is that what you're saying? Why are you trying to act like an adult?" the man shakily said, clearly holding back his laughter. He then took out a small rectangular object that fit in his palm, and aimed its small hole towards the supposed boy. A bright light flashed for an instant, and then he brought the object closer to the boy's face.

"See? You look cute, don't worry. In fact, you're quite a bishounen."

He was looking at his own picture. Except, in the picture, he looked like his seven years old self.

"…"

He could not say anything. Silently he looked down to his body and, just like in the picture, he had the body of a child.

"...A..h…"

It was a surreal thing, and it was only because he had seen much more bizarre things that his mind didn't go into panic in the slightest.

Naturally, his mind frantically searched for the cause of his de-aging, and the strangest thing that happened to him lately was…

" _Was it that red lizard? How did it alter my age?"_ Various theories and speculations ran inside the boy's head, but a clap from the man stopped his train of thought.

"Now, now, it's not good for a child of your age to be lying around in a cold soil like this. You might catch a cold," the red-haired man casually said while offering a hand.

The boy picked the man's hand and the man then pulled him up. He noted how light the boy was.

"Thank you…"

Blinking, the man's face beamed immediately. "It wasn't a problem at all," the man said, as he was finally able to look at the boy's face clearly. As he took in more detail of the boy's face, his gaze slowly becoming more intense, and his face started to inch closer to the boy's face.

"Is there something on my face?" the boy suspiciously asked.

Blinking again, the man pulled his face away, and his smile returned. "Sorry about that, you just look a bit similar to someone that I knew."

"Your friend?"

"Something like that. He's no longer with us, though."

"…Please forgive me for asking."

"No, no, it's alright. It was a long time ago."

"If it's not a problem, may I know where I am?" asked the boy with a very calm and mature voice. He needed information and it would not do if he could not obtain any knowledge due to this turn of event.

"My, aren't you a mature one? You're in my castle, of course!" said the man seemingly proud of his palace and expecting a reaction that every child had when they knew they were in HIS palace.

However, the boy in front of him remained unfazed and instead asked, "…Who are you again?"

The red-haired man could not help but to fall to the ground, face first, because the boy did not know who he was.

However, due to misfortune or some form of higher entity, which was responsible for manipulating fate, there was a sharp stone on the ground which directly hit what most healthy men would call "My Son".

The boy could not help but to sweatdrop at the display of utter ridiculousness in front of him.

" _How could someone be this unlucky?"_ thought the boy. However, he could not help feeling that there was someone out there who experienced much more misfortunes on a far higher scale on a daily basis.

He looked at the man who was still rolling around in pain while screaming "My Son" several times, before deciding to help him.

"Can you stand? Here, grab my hand," He did not bother to ask whether the man was okay or not, because he was definitely NOT okay.

"T-t-t-t-thank-yo-u," said the man, still shaking from the pain.

"As I said earlier, who are you?" the boy repeated his question, but this time in a far more relaxed voice.

"How come you don't know ME?! I am the one known as the crimson Maou, the leader of the four Maous and one of the rulers of the Underworld and the current Lucifer! The one and only Sirzechs Lucifer, formerly known as Sirzechs Gremory!" shouted the man with a _very_ passionate voice.

The boy however only tilted his head to the side and said...

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

The man, now known as Sirzechs became crestfallen. This was the first time someone did not recognize him, and the fact that many beings out there knew about him, or at least recognize his name, spoke about the boy's lack of knowledge.

Sirzechs, however, quickly regained his laid-back attitude, and asked the boy the questions that were bugging his mind.

"By the way, why are you here, or rather how did you arrive here?"

"No idea," replied the boy immediately. "I have no knowledge of Maou, Underworld and even the name Lucifer or Gremory," the boy admitted with a shrug. "As for how I arrived here, my only guess is it has something to do with the massive red lizard that I met."

"A massive red lizard?" the man asked. The boy simply nodded. "Tell me, is this lizard lives in a place where there's nothing in there except for colors? "

The boy look surprised for a moment but quickly replace it with his calm persona and then he gives the man a nod.

"Great red." muttered Sirzech.

"Great Red?" asked the boy who is now curious.

"Ah, well…Great Red is the most powerful dragon in existence," Sirzechs explained. The boy tilted his head again, causing Sirzechs to sweatdropped. "Please don't tell me that you don't even know what a dragon is."

"Does it matter whether I know about this 'dragon' or not?" the boy curiously asked.

Sirzechs's head dropped. "Now this is s surprise. I thought dragons are really famous with children these days thanks to anime and manga."

"Could you explain to me what dragons are?" asked the boy, while thinking about the amount of power that the red lizard, now known as Great Red, emitted.

Its power was comparable to that of nine-tails, and if it proven itself to be a hostile entity, then some kind of measure would be needed to deal with it.

Although, he was more worried about why it turned him into a child.

Suddenly, he felt very weak and a wave of dizziness spread in his head.

He reached his limit.

He was trying not to show that he was extremely weak now, but his body reached its limit.

"Well, a dragon is…." Sirzechs was unable to finish his explanation, because the boy had suddenly collapsed. In a rush of panic, he went to the boy's side and saw that the boy looked really pale.

A red circle appeared on the man's palm, and there was a small image of a woman.

"Grayfia! Come here quick! It's emergency!" The urgency in his voice and mind, however, was cut when a noise from a certain boy's stomach made itself known.

GRUMBLE

And the rest, was silent

GRUMBLE

Or should be, if not for the fact that a noise from the boy's stomach grew louder every seconds.

Twitching, the boy was ashamed of himself. "I think…I over(GRUMBLE)ted myself," said the boy with a voice that was barely above a whisper.

"Pfft….Ahahahaha!" Sirzechs couldn't contain his laughter anymore.

Really, after the display of unnatural calmness and maturity for someone of his age, to collapse because of hunger was just too anti-climactic.

"Huhuhu…. Still a CHILD after all~," said Sirzech, still chuckling. The boy did not know why, but he could feel his pride as a man hurting so much at the moment.

"Fine, let's go get you a food shall we?" Sirzechs carried the boy on his back, but then he paused.

" _He's too light…"_ Sirzechs mused. He knew the boy was light when he helped him stood up earlier, but he didn't expect him to be _this_ light. Even his younger sister was heavier than this boy, though only by a small margin.

As he walked towards the dining hall, while making sure that the boy felt as comfortable as possible on his back, Sirzechs realized that he had not asked for the boy's name.

"By the way, what's your name? It's only polite to tell your name to your elder, especially one who will feed you," Sirzech said with a smile.

The boy pondered about it for a bit, but then he gave up because Sirzechs would not stop bothering him.

With a thin smile, he gave the crimson Maou his name.

"It's…Itachi"

"My name is…Uchiha…Itachi…"

xxx

end of chapter 1

xxx

"…This presence…"

"I see…so a new one has finally appeared."

"It was worth it, after all…waiting this long…"

"Now, let's destroy the world shall we? What do you think, _m_ _e?_ "


	2. Meeting the Siscon's Family

**I'm humbled by the responses guys, I really am. Thank you very much.**

 **Ps. does anyone know how old exactly is Sirzechs? I'm planning to write a prequel to this story with Sirzechs as one of the main characters.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own NARUTO or High school DxD**

xxx

 **Fate is a cruel concept. Fate causes siblings to kill each other. Fate turns friends into enemies. However, Fate also what caused the meeting between people. Fate gives the chance to forge a brand new relationship. This is the story of a person who discards his happiness for peace and gains a chance to find a new happiness in a new world.**

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"Tsukuyomi!" = Normal Talking

" _ **Tsukuyomi!" =**_ Jutsu/Magic/Techniques

" _Tsukuyomi!" =_ Thought

" **Tsukuyomi!" =** Dragon/Sacred Gear talking

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Chapter 2

 **Meeting the Siscon's Family**

xxx

" _How in the world did it come to this_?" was what the now young again Uchiha Itachi thought while standing in front of a gate of what appeared to be a castle made entirely of marble and granite. Apparently this castle was the main residence of a certain clan named Gremory, a clan that was ruled by Sirzechs' father, the man who had picked him up when he suddenly appeared in his garden. Said man, however…

"Sob…sob…"

"…"

Glancing sideways, Itachi immediately sweatdropped. Said man, Sirzechs Lucifer, was currently kneeling on the ground, crying with a red swollen cheek. Standing firmly next to the sobbing wreck of a man was Sirzechs' wife, a woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties with long silver hair tied into a braid, a stern but beautiful face, and wearing a blue and white dress that Sirzechs called a maid uniform.

Seemingly noticing him glancing at Sirzechs and her, the woman turned to look at him and suggested with a smile, "You might want to tidy up your clothes a bit."

Itachi sweatdropped, and he immediately did what she had suggested. The chill hidden beneath her eyes and voice had set off all the danger alarms in his mind and, to a person as sensitive to emotions as he was, he knew that it was an order from her, not a suggestion. It was better to just do what was told to do when dealing with this type of person to avoid needless harms, unless one was a masochist seeking a painful experience, which Itachi was certainly was not.

Itachi turned back to the woman, who gave him a nod of approval, and he inadvertently let out a small sigh of relief. Itachi stared at his own image in the carriage mirror, frowning slightly at the mismatch between the sizes of his clothes to that of his body.

He wore black long pant, and red jacket on top of black shirt. All of which were clearly a size or two too big for his current build. It felt really uncomfortable for him, but he dared not say anything to criticize the clothes he wore. Not when they were given, or rather…forced on him by his benefactor.

Itachi did feel a small urge to drill common sense straight into Sirzechs' brain, though. Sirzechs' stubbornness, in that he kept insisting that the red jacket would suit him well and wouldn't stop bugging him until he finally wore the clothes he prepared, was certainly in a level of its own. Too bad it was mixed with a high dose of moronic actions and thoughts, or else he might actually respect that side of his.

Unfortunately for Sirzechs, _accident_ happened. Itachi _accidentally_ stabbed Sirzechs' eyes when he was dressing up, and it caused a bit of incident where Sirzechs ran around the castle, screaming and crying tears of blood before finally being put down by the silver-haired maid.

He would have felt a little bad for stabbing Sirzechs' eyes _accidentally,_ if not for the fact that the man just seemed to be made of iron and could take on a lot of damage.

"It hurts~, it hurts~, Grayfia~," Sirzechs cried with a pleading expression asking for forgiveness.

"Silent," the maid, Grayfia, coldly shot down his plea. "If you thought you could neglect your duty simply because you are a Maou, then, Sirzechs-sama, it is my responsibility to set you straight," Grayfia sternly stated, which caused Sirzechs' face to literally turn blue as waterfall started forming from the tears streaming down his eyes.

"But! But! It was Itachi-kun's fault for wanting to go out and have a trip around! I tried to persuade him, but he kept ranting about it!" Sirzechs declared, while pointing an accusing finger at Itachi.

" _Did you really just pin the blame on me?"_ Itachi mentally asked, staring flatly at Sirzechs.

" _Of course! It's not like you're innocent in this matter,"_ Sirzechs mentally answered, a sly grin forming on his face.

" _It's all your own fault, Sirzechs-san. You reap what you sow,"_ Itachi mentally rebuked Sirzechs' accusation.

" _At least I'll have a comrade to share the pain with!"_ Sirzechs mentally shot back.

Already, Itachi started to feel headache forming in his head. If he didn't clear things up right now, he would definitely end up in the same pitiful situation as Sirzechs, especially since Grayfia had given him a scrutinising look since moments ago.

"Sirzechs-san," Itachi began with a heavy sigh. "As far as I could remember, the only thing I've told you was _'may I go out to see the area around the castle? The views here are completely new for me. It would be unwise if I found myself lost, because I'm unfamiliar with the area',_ " Itachi said, emphasising heavily on the request that he had made to Sirzechs.

Sirzechs' complexion turned even paler at his words, something that Itachi thought wouldn't be possible, but then Sirzechs turned white the moment Itachi decided to add another touch.

"I didn't even ask you to show me around the Underworld, just the nearby area around your castle."

"But! But! Didn't you say you would leave the castle if I didn't give you the permission to go out? Of course, as a responsible adult, I had no choice but to accompany you. It would not sit well with me if I let you out only to find you dead!" Itachi blinked twice at the man's words. Then, feeling a surge of headache assaulting his head, he started massaging his temple.

"Sirzechs-san," he began with another sigh. "That didn't mean you have to be the one to accompany me. Didn't I ask you to find someone to watch over me?" Itachi replied. Then, he delivered the finishing touch. "And as far as I'm concern...weren't you the one who invited me to go for a 'work holiday'?" Itachi asked with a small smirk, because he knew what would happen next judging from the drop in temperature and Sirzechs dreadful expression.

Sirzechs tried to retort, but before he could do that, a hand shot out to his face.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

That was the only sound that came out of Sirzechs mouth. Grayfia, who was previously pinching Sirzech with _only_ two fingers as a punishment, was now using her whole hand to crush Sirzechs' right face.

After a minute or two of continuous 'AAAAAHHHHH!' screaming brought to you by Sirzechs, Itachi proceeded to ask the question that had constantly been bugging him.

"Why are we here?"

xxx

 **~ 4 hours ago ~**

"Itachi-kun, do you know where this road will lead us to?" Sirzechs said with a bright smile that somehow was able to mysteriously radiate a radiant light that brightened the entire carriage.

Itachi looked at the glowing Sirzechs and in that instant he knew he was in another troublesome position again. Sirzechs' eyes were burning with passion. No, really, his eyes were literally on fire to the point that Itachi was perplexed as to how Sirzechs' eyeballs were not melting and still completely intact. Seems like Sirzechs was truly waiting for him to ask a question, so that he could give his passionate speech again.

Of course being new to _everything in this place_ , Itachi had no idea where he was currently heading, and he should probably be curious. However, he dreaded that if he stimulated Sirzechs' passion, then there would be no end to it.

So, he averted his gaze from the views outside the carriage, and then with a calm and composed look, he said, "No. Not that I care anyway…"

Well, that was probably a really cruel way to destroy someone's expectation.

Sirzechs fell off his chair; his heart was broken for having his chance of explaining their destination with passion, especially regarding a certain young girl in that place, utterly crushed by the boy in front of him.

"Well~, our destination is the Gremory castle which is owned by my..." Itachi could only hear the first bit of the sentence, because Sirzechs' voice became so low that it turned into an incomprehensible mumbling.

" _Was it too harsh of me to do that? Well, with his personality, he should recover in a day or two,"_ thought Itachi. _"But still… The Gremory castle, huh…"_

xxx

Sirzechs continued to be depressed for the rest of the journey, which caused Itachi to sweatdrop at the childish antic of the ruler of the underworld. However, the moment Sirzechs stepped out of the carriage, he suddenly became cheerful and dashed toward the gate.

"Ria~tan~, your Onii-tama has come to see you~!" screamed Sirzech in a very childish voice while kissing the air, causing Itachi to sweatdrop even more. However, Sirzechs' attempt to reach the gate as fast as possible was short-lived due to the sudden appearance of Grayfia, who proceeded to restrain him by pinning his body to the ground using their so-called 'magic'. She then started to punish Sirzechs, much to Sirzechs' and Itachi's horror, though it was for different reasons.

xxx

"So, will you give me an answer or not?" Itachi asked, though he knew that Sirzechs was in no state to answer anything.

"Ileve tmescxplsnr to mmre bershddfsa Gfyia iut…(translation: I'll leave the explanation to my dear Grayfia…)," was the replied that came out from Sirzechs' mouth. It was to be expected since half of his face was swollen to the point that he was almost unrecognizable.

Itachi turned his attention to Grayfia, and he gave her a look that said, 'how're we going to fix this?'

Grayfia could only cough with a slightly flushed face, and tried her best to ignore Itachi's gaze.

"Well, Itachi, do you remember when you said that you have no knowledge of the Underworld?" Grayfia asked. Itachi nodded. "Well 'this man' and I have decided that it would be easier and more effective to give you lessons alongside his younger sister. It also helps that the subjects they're teaching here cover even the knowledge regarding the Human World and Heaven extensively. The Gremory clan is one of the 72 pillars, so it is to be expected that the tutors for the heir would be amongst the best and most knowledgeable."

Itachi could care less where he would obtain the necessary knowledge about this world. However, even he had to admit, he was surprised at their lack of suspicion and wariness regarding himself as an unknown.

…

…

…...

…"Are you sure about this?" Itachi said after a brief moment of thinking. It would not sit well for him if he did not point out certain facts to them.

"Regarding what?"

"We've just met a while ago. Adding to that, I'm an unknown whom you two know nothing about. I don't think it's a wise decision to put me and his family in the same place," Itachi said, pointing at Sirzech. "For all you know, I might use this chance to kidnap his sister and take her as a hostage to be used against him. If not, there's also the option of selling her as a slave in some unknown country. I could even use this chance to assassinate the entire Gremory clan," Itachi finished. He closed his eyes, and waited for a reply from the woman.

"It's not a matter of whether I trust you or not," surprisingly it was Sirzechs who replied to him. Itachi opened his eyes to look at the man who said that line without a single hint of hesitation.

"Then?"

"I just know that you will not do it. I could see it in your eyes the moment we met, and even now I can still see it," said Sirzech with a smile, which didn't look like a smile at all to the other two. Thanks to his swollen face, it was hard to determine his expression, because it just looked like a huge lump of meatball.

"And what was it that you saw?" Itachi curiously replied.

"There is so much love inside of you. You are not someone who would mercilessly take other people's life without feeling remorse. No, in fact I can tell you this; you only took actions that are against your conscience, because you are driven by love towards other. I would not even be surprised if you decide to abandon your own happiness for others in the future," Sirzechs said.

"…"

Itachi was left speechless. This was the first time that someone was capable of seeing through him almost completely in a short time.

"What about you then, Grayfia-san?" Itachi asked after he managed to regain his bearing.

"The fact that he has faith in you is more than enough, and I, too, could see that you're a really gentle child," Grayfia finished as she suddenly gave him a hug. Her warmth truly reminded him of the warmth of his mother, and while he was embarrassed about it, he had to admit that this wasn't bad at all.

…

…

…

Itachi gently pushed Grayfia away, and Grayfia kindly released the boy from her hold.

"Foolish and naïve in my opinion, but…thank you…." Itachi said in a voice barely above a whisper, but the two adults heard him nonetheless.

Suddenly, the sound of a gate opening came, and they all saw that the gate had been opened.

"Oh my, it seems that we've spent too much time talking that they decided to pick us instead," Sirzechs said.

"How shameful. As the wife and caretaker of the current Lucifer, I should be able to notice that so much time has passed. It's even almost the time for lunch," Grayfia said with a slight disappointment in her voice.

Itachi noted that the sun had indeed risen above their heads while they were _'chatting'._

"Please forgive me, Grayfia-san, Sirzech-san, for taking your times," Itachi said, bowing his head to Grayfia.

Itachi turned to Sirzechs, but at that moment, for the first time in his life, his jaw dropped at the sight of Sirzechs' face.

There was nothing. No injuries, no swollen face, and not even a mark of scar on his face. It was as if his face had never even received any damage.

But, what was more unsettling for him was how those two completely ignored this fact. They simply acted as if it was a normal thing for those injuries to disappear in a very short time. However, for him, who had just seen it for the first time, he could only stare at Sirzechs' face while trying to comprehend what he saw.

Unfortunately, said man took notice of his stare.

"Mu! Is there something on my face? A rice or chocolate on my lips?" Sirzechs asked, rubbing his face to find something that was never there.

Sirzechs noticed, however, that Itachi was too preoccupied with staring at him intensely to register his question. Of course, being a moronic type of elder brother combined with his own _spectacular deductive ability_ as a Maou, this led to him coming to the best possible conclusion…by his standard.

"Ah~, so that's how it is. You want to call me 'Onii-san', don't you? Oh my, how embarrassing. You should say so if that's what you want," Sirzechs said with a very wide smile, looking very happy and pleased.

Itachi only gave him a stare that said _'are you for real?'_.

"How…is it that your…. face…. looks like that?" Due to the aftershock, Itachi didn't realize that he was stuttering.

"Well, I need to look handsome when visiting my family, especially with Ria-tan waiting for me. It won't sit well with me if she saw her respectable and good-looking Onii-chama looking a bit unkempt," Sirzechs said, completely misunderstood the question.

"….Tha-.." Itachi tried to correct his mistake, but his voice was drowned by a loud and young female voice.

"ONII-TAMA!"

Immediately, Itachi turned around and caught a glimpse of…a young Sirzechs?

However, he quickly realized that despite the close resemblance, this version of Sirzech was without a doubt a female. More accurately, it was a young girl who looked similar to Sirzechs, but with few differences here and there. Her eyes for once were bigger than Sirzechs.

Her crimson hair, though, was exactly the same as that of the Crimson Maou's.

"Ah~, Ria-tan~, my adorable little sister~," Sirzechs said, hugging his little sister and rubbing his cheek with hers. The little girl, Ria-tan, was giggling in joy, but then her sight fell on to the only person that she knew nothing about, and she stared at him with eyes full of curiosity.

Itachi was sweatdropping while looking at Sirzechs, who looked like he could get a pass as a criminal, when he caught on to the curious gaze of Ria-tan. She stared at him, and he simply stared at her in return. Her curious eyes started to brighten and she beamed him a sweet, innocent smile.

Itachi wasn't quite sure how he should respond to her smile. Considering she was but a child, the appropriate action would be to return her smile. However, at the same time she was also the sister of a person who held in influential position, and he felt it would be inappropriate if he responded to her in a casual manner.

As such, Itachi simply took an action that he thought was most appropriate, and that was to bow his head slightly in respect and acknowledgment. He took a peek from behind his bangs, hoping that this would satisfy the young girl, but to his surprise (and amusement), Ria-tan was glaring at him while cutely pouting.

"Ooh~, such a heartwarming sight to see my children getting along so well. Sirzechs, don't hug Rias too hard or you might hurt her."

Itachi was not someone that would leave his back unguarded or ease his focus and battle senses just because he was wrapped by lighthearted atmosphere. But, the fact that he couldn't sense a new presence before the person who was now standing behind him let himself be known, spoke volume about the skills that this person must have.

Itachi silently glanced at the man behind him, carefully concealing the movement of his eyes. But, before he could see who stood behind him, a large hand found its way to his head and began ruffling his hair.

"No need to be so tense, young boy!" the person, who was undoubtedly a male, said with a laugh. "Sirzechs! This boy is one of yours?"

"Unfortunately, no. As enticing as it is to have someone like Itachi-kun as one of mine, I'm not fond with the idea of making children work for me," Sirzechs replied.

Itachi, despite wanting to get away from the man who was ruffling his hair, decided to just accept his current circumstances. Besides, from his crimson hair, Itachi had deduced that this man was Zeoticus Gremory, the Lord of Gremory clan and the father of Sirzechs.

Itachi could sense it. Like Sirzechs, the man was radiating power, though it was not as powerful and potent as Sirzechs'.

"Really, now. Making a ruckus in front of someone else's house…have you lost your manners? Dear? Sirzechs?" A stern voice scolded the Maou and the lord of Gremory clan. Itachi looked at the owner of the voice, and was surprised to see an older version Rias, except the woman had a shoulder-length brown hair instead of crimson.

Itachi went to Grayfia's side and whispered to her, "I thought Sirzechs-san only have one younger sister…"

Grayfia stared at him blankly, and then she started giggling.

"Did I say something weird?" Itachi asked, confused at her reaction. On the other hand, the three crimson hair owners, and one brown hair owner were now staring at them, curious as what had caused Grayfia to laugh.

"No, it's just…that woman over there is my mother-in-law, Lady Gremory," Grayfia said.

….

….

"…Mother?"

"Ah, yes, she is my mother, Venelana Gremory," Sirzechs said, introducing the brown-haired woman as Venelana Gremory.

…..

…..

" _Are you serious?"_ Itachi mentally asked.

" _Very,"_ Sirzechs mentally answered.

Itachi rubbed his face, trying to process this information without tiring himself mentally, but then he noticed the young Gremory girl had slipped out of Sirzechs' hug and was now standing right in front of him. Like, _right in front of him._ Her face was almost an inch from his face, to the point where he could hear her breathing.

Itachi tilted his head to the right. Ria-tan, no, Rias followed his action him and tilted her head to the left. Itachi raised his right hand, and in response Rias raised her left hand.

"…Um…Rias…san?" Itachi had no doubt that she was merely playing with him, but then why was her expression looked so serious?

Rias grasped Itachi's right hand with her left, and then she immediately gave him a hug. Itachi could easily slipped out of Rias' grasp, but she clearly had no hostile intention so it might be better for him to see how this would develop.

"Mmmm…."

"?"

Itachi had no idea why Rias was sniffing on him, but then suddenly she put more power into her hug.

"Ehehe~, you're like a male Sona," Rias proclaimed, much to Itachi's confusion since he had no idea who this person named Sona was that was being compared to him.

He was about to ask her when suddenly he sensed a dark and murderous pressure from behind.

"Huhuhuhuhuhu…" Itachi felt a sense of dread coming from that voice. True enough, when he turned his head he saw Sirzechs having a red aura surrounding him, glaring at him with glowing eyes hidden behind his bangs.

"Not bad…."

"Not bad at all…Itachi-kun…"

"To steal Ria-tan's attention and hug on the first meeting, and in front of me too… It seems that I need to be wary of you…."

Now, if a normal person was in Itachi's shoes, they definitely would have blew up their bladder. However, for Itachi, who had experienced many horrors and hardships in his life, and not to mention his incredible self-control, the only thing he did was to gently push Rias away, and tried to remedy the situation. Of course, however, fate was not going to make it easier for him to do so. The moment he opened his mouth…

 **GRUMBLE…**

A grumbling sound of a hungry stomach vibrated through the air.

…..

….

…..

 **GRUMBLE…**

Slowly, every pair of eyes followed the trail of the sound, and their gazes fell upon the youngest Gremory.

Rias looked very embarrassed, and seemingly tried to vanish by hiding behind her brother. Seeing this, Sirzechs could only smile; an expression that was shared by the rest of the adults.

Itachi on the other hand, only stared at Rias with his usual calm face, which caused Rias who saw him looking at her to further hide herself.

"It seems that we've gotten ourselves pulled too deeply into the moment that we failed to notice the young ones hunger," said Zeoticus. Itachi felt his pride as a man took a massive blow from the elderly man's words. He might look like a child right now, but deep inside he was already a man in his early twenties.

"Indeed. Shall we continue our conversation inside? Sirzechs, lead the boy so he does not get lost inside the castle," said Venelana. However, suddenly she stopped on her track and asked another question.

"By the way, what is your name? We can't call you 'boy' forever, right?" Itachi noticed that there was a slight teasing in her voice, and he wondered whether she was really as strict as she made herself appeared to be.

"My name is Itachi," Itachi answered with a respectful bow.

xxx

"So, is your name Itachi, or Uchiha?" asked Sirzech for the dozen times.

It was right after he was carried and fed by Sirzechs that he had decided to formally introduce himself to the man. He also got the chance to receive brief explanations about this place, no, he should say, _this world._

Apparently, Underworld was a place where the majority of these so-called 'devils' and 'fallen angels' dwelled. In addition, it appeared he the place where he had fallen into was the place owned by one of the leaders of the devils. However, he couldn't dwell in his thought regarding this newly received information, because one of the Maous, the one who held the title of Lucifer, Sirzechs Lucifer, had not stopped bugging him about his name from the moment he introduced himself.

"For the last time, it is Uchiha Itachi," Itachi tiredly replied. "But you can call me Itachi. Uchiha is my family name."

"Then, shouldn't it be Itachi Uchiha? I mean, who put their family names first?" Sirzechs curiously asked. Itachi had no doubt that the man kept questioning him on purpose just for the sake of his enjoyment. From the wide, moronic smile that the crimson-haired man was sporting, Itachi understood that Sirzechs was having a blast right now trying to rile him up. He wasn't going to give the man the reaction he hoped for, though.

" _Well…mine did,"_ thought Itachi as if it was the most obvious answer. He didn't voice his thought; because he got the feeling that there would be no end to this conversation should he answer that question.

"Perhaps his name is pronounced with the same manner as Souji." A woman's voice entered their conversation, and instantly anymore attempts by Sirzechs to rile him up had seemingly evaporated alongside that moronic smile. Itachi turned his eyes to the door and indeed standing there was the maid who had kindly made his food.

Her name was Grayfia if he was not mistaken. He felt he owed a huge debt to her for not only making such a splendid food for him despite not knowing who he was, but also for killing the idiotic conversation he found himself in that had been going on for quite some time now

"Ah~, now that you mention it, Souji also has his family name first. Does this mean you came from Japan?" Sirzechs asked nervously, although that nervousness was directed at Grayfia and not towards Itachi. Itachi, who had no knowledge regarding this 'Japan', only nodded his head so to not raise any suspicion regarding his origin.

"Hmm~, and you said you have no knowledge of the Underworld, yet here you are. Tell me, where did you hail from?" asked Grayfia with a voice that literally ordered him to answer or he would receive hell if he refused.

…

….

"…I've been living my whole life inside a village that was completely isolated from the rest of the world, as such I lack many knowledge regarding the world's history, its cultures, and even its technologies. I had never heard the term 'fallen angel', though I do know about demons and angels. I don't know how I came to be in this place and who was responsible for it, but the last thing that I could remember was that I was enveloped by a light," Itachi explained.

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either.

He knew nothing about _this world,_ and he had no doubt that if the Human World was actually referring to the elemental nations, then _'Madara'_ and Orochimaru would have already tried to lay their hands on these beings. Adding to that was the fact that Sirzechs had shown him his wings earlier, and the maps of Human world and Underworld. By this point, he was already one hundred percent convinced that he might as well be in another world entirely.

Although, it seemed the idea of angels being the messengers of God was the same even in this place, as he reminisced about a certain _God_ and his _angel_ within that organization.

"Well~, if my deduction was correct, then we already knew who is responsible for you to be here. But, the question is Itachi-kun, why did Great Red take an interest in you to the point that it troubled itself by transporting you here? What is it that makes you _different?_ What are you, _Uchiha Itachi_ …?" Although Sirzechs was asking him cheerfully, his voice carried an edge that would have frightened most people into submission.

It was a nostalgic feeling.

It felt like the times when his superiors interrogated him. Thus, he knew he had no way to back out from the questions Sirzechs were asking.

"I am…." Itachi began.

xxx

After they had finished the feast, Itachi was dragged away by Rias who was really eager to show him around the castle. The adults were content to let the children play, and besides now they could finally start talking about the more pressing issues.

"Now, tell us who that boy was and the reasons you brought him here," Zeoticus said. Sirzechs, who was about to eat his ice cream, paused, and then he sweatdropped because his father's gaze was so intense, it literally melt his ice cream.

"I want to hear about it, too. When you contacted us about finding something interesting, I had never expected it to be someone instead," Venelana added.

"Well~, before I tell you, I want to ask something first," Sirzechs said. Zeoticus and Venelana sighed, at their son's whimsical request, but they let him carry on.

"Go on."

"What do you think of him?" Sirzechs asked.

"…."

"…."

"Oh? Was the question too hard? Or did I not make it clear enough who I was talking about?" Sirzechs asked, curious about his parents' lack of response.

"No, I know exactly who you were talking about. It's just, I find it difficult to answer your question," Zeoticus said, as he fiddled with his empty wine cup.

"Yes. There are so many complexities in that boy that I, too, do not know where to begin my assessment of him," Venelana stated.

"Mou~. It can't be that hard. Just say whatever came to your minds," Sirzechs whined, causing Grayfia to pinch his cheek again. "It hurts~, it hurts~, Grayfia~," cried Sirzechs.

"Then show the proper attitude for a man of your age and status," Grayfia sternly scolded. This only caused Sirzechs to cry even more, much to his parents' embarrassment.

Zeoticus and Venelana sighed once again at their son's antic. However, despite his childish behaviour, they knew Sirzechs was a perfectly capable, charismatic and outstanding leader. Not so much for the adult part, though, and they sometimes questioned their son's sanity as well.

Zeoticus put his cup down, and stared directly into Sirzechs' eyes. "He is…not a child, Sirzechs," Zeoticus began. "The way he carried himself, his posture, even the way he walked…none of them belongs to a child. There were no waste movements in his steps, either," Zeoticus explained.

"That itself would have been fine. We're not proud of it, but we've seen a lot of children who were trained since young to be soldiers, and they were similar to him in a sense," Venelana added.

"However, he lacks something that every child has."

"Oh? And that is?" Sirzechs was curious about his father's insight, though he still had tears dropping from his eyes.

"He lacks a child's innocence," Zeoticus stated. "Unrestrained curiosity, when seeing things they've never seen. Awe, when they see something that they deem to be spectacular and wonderful. Wonder, the dreams and imaginations they would have on things they have not yet laid a sight on. Fear, of the unknowns that lay in the dark and the unseen tomorrow. And…the lack of innate capability to sense danger and distrust towards people unknown to them. From my own experience with you and Rias, those were the main traits of a child that they would definitely have," Zeoticus explained. "Well, this could be different with every parent and adult, however."

"However, I sensed none of those from that kid," Zeoticus said, his eyes narrowed as he remembered his encounter with Itachi. "When I approached him from behind, his reaction was not that of a child who was surprised. It was of a warrior, who had found himself caught off-guard, and I could sense his fighting intent flared up, although it was only for a second or two."

"Not to mention his calm attitude. Rather than being his core personality, that calmness of his is more like a facade that he wears. Like a mask that hides his true feelings," Venelana said, voicing her own opinion.

"However, he was without a doubt a child. His body only shows a degree of a child's power, and I couldn't feel anything out of place from that body of his when I touched him. I thought he was someone, or something that masquerades himself as a child, but it seems I was wrong," Zeoticus stated as he sipped the wine in his cup.

"Sirzechs," Venelana began with a tone that demanded answers. "Who is that boy? Where did you find him, and which clan he belonged to?"

"Well~, Okaa-san~, first of all, he is just _Itachi_. Second, I found him in my garden, and lastly~!" Sirzechs said with a dramatic voice that demanded attention. "He is not a devil, but rather a human".

…

…

"What?" Zeoticus and Venelana asked at the same time, while Grayfia only sighed.

"As I said, he is just an ordinary human. At least that's what he told me," said Sirzechs while remembering the time Itachi introduced himself.

xxx

"I am… a human," Itachi told them truthfully, and then sipped the tea that was served to him by Grayfia.

He had to say, the tea was really delicious. It was a bit sweet, unlike the tea that he used to drink, and there was a scent of milk and honey mixed into it. He never drank such delicious tea before.

Both the Maou and Grayfia raised their brows. Great Red, the Dragon of dragons, showed interest in an ordinary human? What did he possess that made a human like him received _its_ attention?

"Do you by any chance possess a Sacred Gear?" Grayfia asked. There must be something about this boy, and one of the several things that could make a human stood out in the eyes of creatures like dragons was a Sacred Gear.

"What is this Sacred Gear that you're talking about?" Itachi couldn't help getting frustrated due to the seemingly endless new terminologies that were shoved to him in one day.

"Sacred Gears are God's artefacts. They are powerful abilities that are bestowed upon humans by the God from the Bible. It could take many forms depending on which type of Sacred Gear the wielder has. Some Sacred Gears are even powerful enough to kill gods and Maous," Sirzechs explained.

Itachi contemplated about this information. Weapons and abilities created by God, but had the capabilities to kill himself? Either God was very confident of his own powers, or it was confident no one would use it on him. However, his own musing was abruptly brought to an end when he realized one thing.

" _Wait… If Sacred Gears are abilities bestowed upon humans by God…then is it possible that both Sharingan and Rinnegan could be classified as a type of Sacred Gear? No…in the first place, there's no such thing as 'God from the Bible' in the Elemental Nations,"_ Itachi thought. He was curious, though, about something that Grayfia had said.

"Grayfia-san, when you say 'gods', did you mean there are more than one God?" Itachi carefully asked. He didn't want to pry upon someone else's religious beliefs after all, especially the ones whom he was indebted to.

"Yes, there exists many gods which belong to their respective religions. The common trait among gods is that they are usually beings of great powers that surpass even the Ultimate-class devil. In fact, you've already met a being that can consider a god amongst dragons," Grayfia explained.

"You mean Great Red _?_ That dragon is that powerful?" Itachi asked.

"It is so powerful that all angels, devils, gods, and even its fellow dragons considered it to be the most powerful being in existence. As far a we know, Great Red's powers far surpass any other beings in existence including the gods," Grayfia finished.

"Dragons…what are they?"

"In the Human World they are viewed as fantasy creatures that have always appeared in various stories and legends," Sirzechs answered.

"I didn't ask how they were viewed. I asked what they are," Itachi repeated while staring menacingly at Sirzechs.

"A…ahh…" Sirzechs looked like he had just been scolded by his mother, and as a result he slowly shrunk away.

Grayfia sweatdropped at the sight of her husband being intimidated by a child. "They are beings that represent _power_ , and amongst them Great Red stood on a completely different level," Grayfia said, much to Itachi's frustration. Itachi felt there were so many things he needed to learn first before he could understand the answer to his question.

"This is why things have become so complicated," Sirzechs, who was shrinking away, bounced back in an instant, making them sweatdropped again. "That dragon had never shown any interest in others before, and it would usually ignore everything that happened around it. But, for some reasons, it teleported you here from Dimensional Gap, even though it used to ignore those who accidentally dropped into that place," Sirzechs said.

"…Was 'Dimensional Gap' that dangerous of a place? I didn't particularly feel threatened in there," Itachi said.

"I'm a bit confused about that myself. Unless you use a magical protection, or naturally protected by magic, then staying there would guarantee dead due to being exposed to 'nothingness'," Grayfia said. She drew closer and began inspecting Itachi. "Do you truly have no knowledge about magic?"

"…No, I see no reason to lie to you, and I don't want to repay your kindness and favors with lies. Besides…I don't think there's a value in lying unless it is to protect those who are dear to me _,"_ Itachi said, looking down to his empty teacup. He felt it was hypocritical of him to say something like that. After all, all his life he had been the very embodiment of lies and deceits, and even just recently he had resorted to manipulating the truth instead of telling them the facts. Perhaps it was as Kabuto had said, perhaps being a liar was simply in his nature.

…

…

" _Hmm?"_ Wondering why there was no response, Itachi looked up and was a bit surprise at what he saw.

They froze.

Sirzechs and Grayfia froze as if something had just struck them.

Was it something that he had said?

They narrowed their eyes ever so slightly, and Itachi could feel unnerving pressure from the two adults.

Suddenly, Sirzechs' expression returned to normal, and then he broke the tension with his usual goofy smile.

"Aren't you a wise one? Did you by chance train to be a monk, or hermit?" Sirzechs teased. Itachi's expression remained the same; he neither laugh nor respond to it, shattering Sirzechs' heart to pieces. "Umm…Itachi-kun…do you know how painful it is for a comedian when his audience didn't laugh at his joke?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Was that supposed to be a joke?" Itachi innocently asked. He honestly thought Sirzechs was making a sarcastic remark.

After Sirzechs suddenly stormed out of the room while crying and yelling 'Itachi-kun, you're a jerk!', it took almost two hours until the conversation could continue. As if to add more salt to his injury, none of them went to chase Sirzechs and merely continued their teatime together in a relaxing quiet, further breaking the Maou's heart.

During that time, Itachi tasted Grayfia's handmade cakes, and he was truly impressed with how good they were. It further cemented his belief that Grayfia might be the best cook he had ever encountered so far.

Once Sirzechs had returned with teary eyes, a red face, and a bottle of sake in one hand, which instantly told them that he was drunk, Itachi was presented with a torture show brought to him by Grayfia and Sirzechs.

After watching the spectacular display of torture, Itachi made it a rule to never get on Grayfia's bad side.

With a serious expression, and swollen face, Sirzechs sat in front of Itachi.

"Itachi-kun, are you sure you don't possess something that made it curious about you? A special Sacred Gear or something similar?"

Although he was sweatdropping at the display of Sirzechs' face, Itachi tried his best to think of something that might attract the dragon's interest.

Itachi ran through his memories, and he arrived at the most obvious reason for the dragon's interest on him.

" _Mangekyo Sharingan…."_ This would not do at all. If that dragon had become interested in his eyes, then he needed to consider the worst-case scenario. " _A battle against the strongest existence…"_ Itachi solemnly thought.

"Did you remember something?" Sirzechs asked.

"No, I can't figure out why it's interested in me," Itachi lied. They had no need to know everything about him. Secrecy was what kept a shinobi alive, after all. Moreover…if it were to come to get his Sharingan, he did not want to involve these people in the battle. He did not want to drag anyone else into his problems.

"Hm~, is that so~?"

"By the way, Sirzechs-sama," Itachi began.

Sirzechs looked a bit surprised, but then he only replied with, "Yes?"

"How could I repay you for your hospitality?" Itachi asked. It wasn't a question, but rather a statement.

Sirzechs, who didn't expect that kind of question, only burst out laughing. But, his laughter stopped when Itachi repeated his question.

"How could I repay you for your hospitality?"

"…"

Sirzechs sweatdropped. He really didn't want anything from the boy, and he doubted the boy could do anything anyway in his current state. Grayfia, however, was impressed with the boy's humble attitude, and his display of respect and eagerness to repay the kindness he had received. It wasn't often that they met someone who truly knew how to be grateful and respectful towards their elders these days.

"Ah…Ahahaha…." Sirzechs nervously laughed. "Then, can you drop the 'sama'?" Sirzechs asked. He instantly started to think that was a bad request, partly because of the boy's expression, and mainly because of his wife's left hand, which had its fingers being stretched at the moment.

….

…

"Really? That's all? But, wouldn't it cause a problem later on? Especially since you are the leader of the Maous," Itachi questioned.

"It's alright! It's alright! I originally never wanted to become a Maou in the first place! Even if I look like this I also have a very huge dream!" Sirzechs said in an attempt to convince the boy to drop the honorific.

"And that dream is?'

"TO BE A MUSIC COMPOSEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sirzechs' attempt to passionately declare his dream was cut short when Grayfia's hand shot out to his face and began pinching him. Hard.

With a sigh, Itachi said, "Grayfia-san, it must be hard for you, to play 'tsukkomi' on your husband like this."

"Yes, especially since he always do this…wait. How did you figure out that I'm his wife?" Grayfia asked, confused. She never said anything to the boy regarding her relationship with Sirzechs.

"It's not that hard really. You know his taste in tea and the amount of sugars that he wants. You're always by his side, and the intimacy that you've shown further cemented it. I've never seen any other servants and masters who were very affectionate towards each other. So, I concluded that either you are his secret lover, which is unlikely considering the scandal that could arise from such relationship, or that you are Sirzechs-san's wife, who put herself in a servant position. I simply picked the latter," Itachi explained.

Of course, being a very considerate person that he was, he didn't reveal how she would glance at Sirzechs every few seconds. How the middle finger and the pinkie of her left hand would sometimes fidgeting, as if to indicate that there should be something on the ring finger. Most importantly, though, was the same scent of perfume that he smelled from them.

Of course there were many other signs, but it would be inappropriate for him to reveal it.

xxx

"Just an…ordinary human, you say?" Zeoticus asked.

"Yes. There's no indication that he is a devil, angel, or other supernatural beings. Therefore, he could only be a human as he himself had admitted," replied Sirzechs.

"Explain to me, then," Zeoticus began with a very serious voice. "If he was indeed a human like you've said, then how is it possible for him not to die, or even injured when Rias hugged him. Surely you are aware of Rias' habit of hugging things she found interesting with her full strength."

"Wasn't it because children these days are very energetic? Really, even I'm starting to find it difficult to follow Rias around," said Sirzechs with a bright smile.

" _Like hell you are,"_ was what ran through inside the rest of the their minds.

"Be serious, Sirzechs. You do realize how powerful our physical strength is compared to that of humans'," scolded Zeoticus, slowly losing his patience with his son's foolery.

"Did you reincarnate him as one of your peerage?" Venelana asked. It was the only possible explanation. It was hard to believe that a human child could survive being hugged by a demon using their full strength, even if said demon was also a child.

"No way~. I'm not desperate enough to find a candidate for another pawn to the point where I would transform a child," Sirzechs explained. "And didn't I tell you earlier I wasn't looking for a child to work for me?"

Zeoticus and Venelana nodded. They knew full well the strength of Sirzechs' current peerage, but this only served to increase their scepticism of Sirzechs' motives.

"What's your game here, Sirzechs?" Zeoticus questioned.

"I'm not playing any game, though?" Sirzechs answered playfully.

"Answer my question," Zeoticus said with a commanding voice.

….

…

…

"...Haaah…" Sirzechs let out a long and heavy sigh. "Very well, but with one condition."

"Say it."

"Don't let anyone or anything know what I'm about to say, not even Rias,"Sirzechs stated.

Zeoticus closed his eyes, seemingly contemplating the condition his son had laid out. For Sirzechs to demand from him to keep something a secret from Rias, considering how big of a siscon he was, it must have been something of grave importance where knowing it meant putting one life's on the line. Zeoticus stared straight into Sirzechs' eyes. His son was deadly serious about this condition. Sipping his wine, Zeoticus nodded his head to indicate that he accepted the condition.

Sirzechs, confident that his parents would keep their lips tight, spoke only a few words. The moment those words were spoken, however, Zeoticus and Venelana were shaken to the point where Zeoticus expression was now filled with pain and regret.

"Are you positive about this?" Zeoticus asked with an almost strangled voice.

"Yup, he said it himself," Sirzechs said, confirming Zeoticus' fear.

"…Then, wouldn't it better if you made that boy one of yours? If things were to repeat itself, how could we…how could I face _him_ ever again?"

"Now, now. Don't go beating yourself like that, Otou-san. What happened was no one's fault. It was a choice _he_ made," Sirzechs said, trying to calm his father down. "Besides, as long as someone can keep an eye on him, there's no need to chain his life to mine."

"As much as it pains me to say this, I have to agree with Sirzechs," Grayfia said with a heavy sigh. Upon hearing her cold words Sirzechs could only stare at Grayfia like a wounded animal.

"G-Grayfia-san? Your words really pierce my sensitive heart deeply, you know. What's with the cold treatment? Are you still angry that I neglected my work?" Sirzechs asked with tears forming in his eyes.

"If he stayed with us…we fear that it would instead increase the dangers that he would face. At this point, while it is safe to presume none of our enemies know anything about him, we couldn't say what would happen if we encountered one that does know something about him. The Old-Maou faction is full of resourceful individuals who could probably find those information," Grayfia stated, completely ignoring the now crestfallen Sirzechs.

"Indeed, they are definitely going to pose problems. And since you are at the forefront of our conflict with them…" Zeoticus trailed off, looking at Grayfia who gave him a nod of confirmation.

There was another reason, however. The reason as to why Itachi didn't, or rather _couldn't_ become Sirzechs' pawn, and the two individuals who knew about this had decided to keep this matter a secret among themselves.

xxx

At the insistence of Itachi's request to serve him, Sirzechs reluctantly pulled out a red chess piece. More specifically, it was the pawn piece. This was the only type of pieces left that was still available in his possession. The rest had already been used on members of his peerage.

"This is a 'Pawn' piece. When I insert this piece into your body, you will be transformed into a devil. Are you really sure this is what you want?" Sirzechs asked.

Itachi only gave a nod as a sign of confirmation. His mind was already set. It would not do to just accept someone's kindness without even trying to repay them. If becoming a devil were something that he needed to do to be of service to this man, then he would gladly do so.

Sirzechs looked at Itachi one last time, and then started to bring the piece closer.

Unexpectedly, or maybe expectedly, the piece did not respond to him. Sirzechs began wondering whether Itachi needed more than one piece to transform, or if 'Pawn' were simply incompatible with him.

Next, he brought two 'Pawns' together.

Still no reaction.

Three 'Pawns'. Also still no reaction.

It remained unresponsive until Sirzechs brought out the fifth 'Pawns', and he really hoped that it would finally react to Itachi, since he didn't have any 'Pawn' pieces left.

Fortunately, the five pieces responded to him, and the glow that came out from the 'Pawns' signalled the beginning of Itachi's life as a devil.

That was what _should_ have happened.

The moment the pieces entered his body, violent reactions erupted from Itachi. This took Sirzechs and Grayfia aback, because something like had never happened before when 'Evil Pieces' transformed someone into a devil.

Itachi started to struggle as he felt intense pain coming from his chest. They immediately tried to give any assistance to Itachi, and even inspected his body, but they could not find anything that might have caused this.

Then, they saw it. The 'Evil Pieces', the 'Pawn' pieces that should have been fused with Itachi, were slowly being pushed out. Itachi struggled even more, and Sirzechs and Grayfia had no choice but to hold him down and tried to calm him down.

Itachi continued to struggle with pain as he gritted his teeth so hard it felt like they were going to break. It felt like something was going to burst out from his chest at any moment.

The struggling and the pain continued until finally all the Evil Pieces were out of his body. Sirzechs tried to grab the pieces so that his friend and fellow Maou, Ajuka, could inspect it and hopefully gave him some answers. However, the pieces immediately crumbled to dust before he could even touch it.

Sirzechs turned his attention to Grayfia, who looked very concerned about Itachi's condition.

"Sirzechs…he lost his consciousness, and his body is really hot. It's like he's in fire," Grayfia said.

"Grayfia, prepare a towel and a lot of ice and water. I'll move him to our bed," Sirzechs said. Grayfia hurriedly left to get them, while Sirzechs carried Itachi in his arms and quickly made his way to his room.

Midway, however, Sirzechs stopped. He then looked at the Itachi, and whispered with a very sad voice.

"Please, don't die on us again…"

If someone saw the face of the crimson-haired Maou at that moment, they would definitely question the cause as to what could make someone as cheerful as him to have such a sad and regretful expression.

xxx

Grayfia recalled what had happened, and this time she decided to do the explaining as to why they had decided to bring Itachi to the Gremory clan. Besides, as much as she wanted her husband to be the to do the explaining, considering they were speaking to his parents, Sirzechs was…busy planting his face in the table.

"Zeoticus-sama, Venelana-sama, there are two reasons why we've decided to bring that boy here," Grayfia began, gaining their attentions. "First, as you may have deduced from our conversation, we wish for the Gremory clan to shelter him and keep an eye on him. Second, we wish for him to receive the same education that Rias-sama is currently undertaking," Grayfia explained.

"I understand the first reason, but the second? It may sound pretentious of me to say this, but the level of education that Rias receives is harder and more complex than what a human child could possibly take. Surely it would be better for him to study with the same education system and at the same pace as other human children, do you not agree?" Venelana asked.

Grayfia shook her head, showing disagreement with Venelana. "If he was a normal human child, then I would have agreed with you, Okaa-sama," Grayfia said, dropping the formality and addressing Venelana not as a maid, but as a daughter-in-law.

"What do you mean by that, Grayfia?" Venelana asked, looking at her with slightly puzzled eyes.

"That boy seems to lack the knowledge regarding society and the world in general, even the Human World," Grayfia began. "He himself has admitted of hailing from an isolated village. Thus, to help him, we thought that it would be more effective for him to also learn about the matters in the Underworld as well, considering the predicaments that he may have to face in the future. Obviously, I would rather not place unrealistic expectations on him by expecting him to be able to follow Rias' education completely, but if it would make him ready, then…"Grayfia trailed off, trying not to imagine what could happen to Itachi in the future.

"Why don't you do it yourself then?" Zeoticus asked, staring at Sirzechs. "You're a fool, Sirzechs. There's no denying that. But out of all people, except maybe for Ajuka, there's none who is as knowledgeable and well informed as you regarding everything that is happening in the world. Not to mention your position as a Maou grants you a special privilege to access the ' _Library of Wisdom'_ within Dantalian's ' _Mystic Archive'_."

"Eh? No way. My duty as a Maou is already taxing enough as is," Sirzechs said, shrugging tiredly.

" _Even though you only laze around watching television and playing games 95% of the time…"_ Grayfia mentally berated had considered throwing those collections of his into the incinerator, but without a doubt should she do that, her husband would cry nonstop. Then again, she could just 'discipline' him should that happen.

Sirzechs, feeling chill running down his spine, turned to Grayfia. Grayfia was merely giving him a small smile, but it was enough to cause a bead of sweat to run down his face.

Coughing, Sirzechs tried his best to ignore the sense of impending doom coming from his wife and continued from where he left off. "Aside from that, Grayfia doesn't have the time to look after two kids at the same time. Also, don't you think this will be good for Rias?" Sirzechs said, a sly grin slowly forming on his face.

"How is this going to be a good thing for Rias?" questioned Zeoticus, puzzled with his son's intention.

Sirzechs' grin turned into a wide smile to the point that it almost looked like it would split his face.

"Childhood friend," Sirzechs playfully stated as if it explained everything.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Even Grayfia was speechless. Sirzechs had never told her about this, and partially because of the notion that a human child becoming a childhood friend of a devil child was almost unheard of.

"Or maybe another brother? Huhuhu...but don't think you can hog Ria-tan all for yourself…Itachi-kun!" Sirzechs began to speak to himself, ignoring the various emotions of the three other adults.

Zeoticus massaged his temple; headache was slowly forming as he started to understand Sirzechs' intention. "Are you serious, Sirzechs? Protecting him is one thing, but to involve Rias in this? Didn't you say you don't want Rias to know about him?"

"No, I said I don't want anyone to know about _our_ secret," Sirzechs began, emphasising the word _our_ to make it clear to everyone present. "I have no problem at all with him socialising with Rias. In fact, if you think about it, this would make it easier to hide him from public eyes, considering that no devils would usually take notice of someone like him when someone like Rias would have all the attention," Sirzechs explained.

"I think you need to think this through first, Sirzechs. Your decision can…" Venelana was voicing her objection when Sirzechs raised a hand and interrupted her.

"Have you seen his eyes?" Sirzechs cut his mother's words and questioned them with intense gaze.

"His…eyes?" Zeoticus asked.

"Once you've seen his eyes, you will understand why I've made this decision" Sirzechs said. "But, if that still doesn't convince you, I'm sure his actions would. You just have to know him in person, is all I'm asking."

"…."

"…."

"Besides, it won't do any good for Ria-tan if she only has the Sitri princess as her friend, right~? I believe the presence of a male her age would have a great influence on her growing up," Sirzechs added.

Both Gremory contemplated about this proposition. However, due to his great love for his children, Zeoticus remained apprehensive at allowing the boy interact with Rias. Their contemplations, however, ended when he remembered something quite odd in what Sirzechs had said.

"Sirzechs, what do you mean when you said Grayfia couldn't look after two kids?" Zeoticus asked. Grayfia was not responsible for looking after Rias, so that had to mean that there was another child under their care.

"That's another reason why we're here! The truth is…" Sirzechs could not finish his making his grand announcement as Rias' scream echoed from the distance.

"KYAAAAAAA!

xxx

 **[Gremory castle – Forest area]**

" _This is bad…How could I let this happen?!"_ Itachi mentally berated himself.

In front of him was an abomination of some sort. It looked somewhat of a mixture between a spider and a scorpion, but it possessed similar features as human as well. Six pairs of hands with opposable thumb that acted as its feet, an elongated neck that was attached to the back of its body, making it looked like a tail instead, with a round head, and a gigantic mouth with rows of jagged, human-like teeth at the front of its body.

However, the most unsettling thing was, its face was very similar to that of a human. It had human-like nose, ears, eyes that were constantly closed, and mouth that were filled with razor-sharp teeth. Those human-like parts did not look as if they were naturally belonged to it; they looked like they were moulded to this creature using some inhuman means.

The colour of its body was also a worrisome indication, since the monster was constantly emitting a nauseating odour of human flesh and blood.

Currently, it was holding Rias in its right hand, and if his guess was right, it intended to eat her. However, it started swinging Rias around in front of him, as if it was taunting him to try to save her.

"… _."_ No words were needed. He silently dashed forward to the abomination with the sole intent of saving his new friend.

xxx

 **[1 hour ago]**

Rias had not stopped talking ever since she dragged him with her.

She talked about many things, and was genuinely happy to have her first male friend. Unfortunately, the boy whom she was talking to was so deep in thought regarding the matter of Venelana's youthful appearance that he forgot to pay any attention to her.

" _Was it some kind of technique to slow the aging process? Or, perhaps this is the work of this magic…thing?"_ Itachi thought as he continued to create new theories about Venelana's youthful appearance. No, not only Venelana, even Zeoticus looked a bit too young to have a child of Sirzechs age.

While he had seen an old hag (TsuEHEM!de) who made herself looked younger through the use of jutsu, he could still clearly see the aspects which made it clear to him that her appearance was a result of jutsu. However, in Venelana's and Zeoticus' case, it felt too natural for them to look that young.

If he didn't know that they were Sirzechs' parents, then he would have definitely believed Venelana had she claimed to be 17. He also could not see anything that indicated that they were hiding their true age.

"Are they perhaps…immortals?" Itachi muttered. _"No, it can't be… In the first place immortality is…hmm?"_ Itachi stopped his train of thought when he saw Rias glaring at him with her mouth making a 'mumumu…' sound. Now, this would be a cute scene to look at, if not for the fact that she was radiating red aura from her body, similar to Sirzechs when he saw Rias hugging him.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Did you hear anything I just said?"

"About what?" Itachi asked. He had not listened to her at all thanks to Venelana and Zeoticus.

"Hmph! It's nothing, Baka-tachi!" Rias yelled, angrily stomping away from him.

This only served to further confused Itachi, especially since he didn't remember doing anything that might have offended the little girl. He could only watch the figure of said girl marching away silently. After a qwhile, he focused back on his own musing.

" _Maybe she gave birth at a very young age? No…that's physically impossible. If Sirzechs-san's appearance is any indication, then that means she should have already lived for at least four or five decades."_

It was a shame that Sirzechs had not yet explained to him how all devils possessed a very long lifespan. Sirzechs himself was the proof, since he already lived for more than two centuries, and yet he still looked very young.

If only Sirzechs had bothered to explain this aspect of devil to Itachi, he wouldn't be having this dilemma. Not to mention, his mind was so concentrated on this matter that he had failed yet again to register the return of a certain red-haired girl.

GRAB!

"…Hmm?" Itachi looked at his arm, and saw a small hand grabbing unto it. He followed the hand, and was slightly surprised to see Rias' pouting face so close to his.

"MOU~! Why didn't you follow me?" Rias asked, visibly angry for being completely ignored.

…

…

…

"…Why should I?" Itachi replied passively. He didn't know why the girl wanted him to follow her, and she had never told him to follow her anyway. Even if she did, he still had no reason to follow her, especially since she was looking really angry with him.

"Guuuu..." Rias' body trembled and, based on his own experience, Itachi knew this would be the moment where she exploded in anger.

But, as if to betray his expectation, Rias, instead of being angry, was staring at the ground dejectedly.

"Even though I wanted to introduced you to Luna-chan…"

"Luna…chan?" Itachi speculated that it had to be her pet, if the name were any indication. Unfortunately, he based this speculation on girls from elemental nations and not the girls of this world.

"Yes! This is my friend, 'Sailor Luna-chan'!" Rias brought out a doll, or rather, an action figure of a woman wearing a blue mini skirt and a skimpy white outfit.

It was the type of things that an otaku would purchase from the place called Akihabara, with prices ranging from thousands to tens of thousands yen depending on its rarity.

"…."

Itachi was left speechless.

What manner of culture existed in this world?

Was it normal for a young girl in this world to carry a miniature model of woman in skimpy white outfit and short skirt, where one could see its underwear and breasts curve?

"Onii-tama bought it for me a while ago, and he said it's a gift from the ruler there."

Of course, she didn't know that what Sirzechs meant by a ruler was an executive of a corporation who was responsible for creating and selling these action figures.

"…"

Itachi's opinion of Sirzechs had just plummeted to the very bottom of the darkest pit.

"So… Here! It's for you!" Rias forcefully shoved the action figure into Itachi's hands. Itachi only looked at said figure for a moment, before he looked up to Rias, and then he looked back at the action figure. This continued for a full minute before he finally decided to speak.

"Why do you give this to me?" Itachi asked. He honestly hoped that this girl was not trying to harass him.

Just imagined. A young boy like him was seen holding an action figure where one could see the underwear and played with its breasts…Itachi shuddered at the thought of what would happen, and how he would be viewed from then on.

"Because, you're my friend!" Rias said simply, making Itachi raised a brow at her proclamation. "It came as a pair when Oni-tama bought it. He says that if I give half the pair to a person that I consider a friend, then it will create an everlasting bond between me and that person."

Of course, Rias didn't know that Sirzechs had said those lines simply to make things looked more dramatic for her.

"..."

"I actually wanted to give it to Sona, but she refused it," Rias whined.

"Why?"

"She said it's too childish for a High-class devil," Rias answered.

"…Heh..." Itachi couldn't contain his smile after he heard that.

"Ah! You're making fun of me aren't you?!".

"No… It's just… I couldn't fathom why you call me your friend even though we've just met. And no, I'm not making fun of your taste. People have different taste regarding certain things, and your love for this _doll_ is certainly what helps to define your identity," Itachi said. _"Even if said doll looks really wrong in certain parts…"_ Itachi silently added.

Being a child, Rias couldn't fully comprehend what Itachi had said. She could only understand one thing, though, and that was the fact that he didn't make fun of her hobby. Seeing her confusion, Itachi only gave her a warm smile and decided to simplify his question.

"To put it simply, I don't understand the reason why you would make me your friend."

"You don't want to?" Rias asked, staring at him anxiously.

"…."

Rias seemed to become very sad to the point that she looked like she was going to cry due to Itachi's lack of response. However, it was further escalated when she heard the Itachi's answer.

"Yes."

Rias was staring down with tears gathering in her eyes. Seeing this, Itachi couldn't help but to smile at the child's innocence. He slowly lifted up his right hand and called her name.

"Rias-san."

"W-what?" Rias asked while sniffling.

POKE

Itachi poked Rias on the forehead, and Rias, who had just received Itachi's trademark poking, stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Just joking…"

"…Eh?"

"I don't mind becoming your friend, Rias-san."

….

….

"!" The ground under Rias cracked, and red aura began to gather around her again, but this time it was far more intense than before. It slowly diminished when Itachi offered his hand to help her stand.

"I'm sorry… It seems I went a bit overboard."

Well, if almost making a girl cried and fell to the ground could be considered a bit.

"HMMPPHH!" Rias only threw her head to the side, the typical gesture of 'no, I won't forgive you'.

Itachi sweatdropped. It seemed he really had went overboard in teasing this young girl.

"Is there anything that I can do to earn your forgiveness, Rias-san?"

….

…

"Don't call me Rias-san."

"Hm?"

"Just call me Rias! Friends don't use honorifics when they called each other's name!" Rias scolded, pointing a finger at Itachi.

Itachi blinked several times after hearing those words, and then he smiled again.

However, his smile this time was different.

It was a real, genuine smile of happiness.

"Fine. Will you forgive me, Rias?"

"Un!" Rias nodded with a bright smile. She grabbed Itachi's hand, and he pulled her up…while hiding his other hand behind him.

"For this as well," Itachi suddenly added.

"Eh?"

POKE

"MOU~!" Rias whined. Itachi only smiled, but then he decided to ask a question regarding a certain something.

"By the way, Rias, what should I do with this?" Itachi pointed at the action figure in his hand.

"Keep it of course! You better take good care of it, alright!" Rias ordered, much to Itachi's dismay.

"…Understood." Sighing, he had not the heart to throw this away, and decided to find a place to hide it later.

"Ah! Do you want to see 'Kamen-kun'?" Rias offered, her eyes were gleaming with excitement.

"Kamen…kun?" Another weird name that he felt was better left alone. But, Rias enthusiasm made it difficult for him to say no to her.

Yes, it's the one that came with 'Luna-chan'! I'm going to go get him, so you better stay still, okay?" Without even waiting for his reply, Rias dashed off toward the castle.

Itachi could only shook his head a bit, and turned his attention to the action figure.

" _Friends, huh…"_ That word was not just any word for him who had murdered all his friends, and was then labelled as a traitor by the village that he loved and hunted by everyone whom once he called comrades, with the exception of the few that knew the truth.

His reminiscent of his past was brought to an abrupt end, as he felt that something was not right. Following his instinct, he quickly ran off to catch up to Rias, but then, he could feel an immense bloodlust lingering on the air, and decided to stop and inspect it.

It was not the kind of bloodlust where one saw someone he wanted to kill, no, this was the kind of bloodlust where a predator saw its prey and wanted to eat it. It's a bloodlust that only existed in the world of survival of the fittest.

Slowly, he followed the trail of the bloodlust, and he was horrified when he realized that it came from the direction where Rias was heading. He quickly dashed to where Rias was, and prepared himself to face whatever creature was able to generate this immense bloodlust.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Rias' scream came from up ahead. He narrowed his eyes, focused his chakra on his feet, and increased his speed to the point where, to people with untrained eyes he would appear as a black blur.

He quickly reached a clearing and saw Rias being held up by an abomination.

xxx

Itachi formulated several plans while he circled the abomination, and tried to get its attention away from Rias.

He swiftly dodged the creature's attempts to capture him and, taking this opportunity, he launched his first strike. His chakra-enhanced fist hit the creature's foot, but he noted that the creature didn't seem to be affected by it.

He dodged a swipe of its neck, and he took that opportunity to attach himself to its neck. It didn't realize that Itachi was running to its head from behind it. Once it felt the footsteps on its upper neck, it turned its head 180 degree, only to see Itachi cocking back his fist.

Itachi launched another chakra-enhanced punch, but this time he put more strength in his punch that it was able to send the creature skidding back and staggered it.

" _Now!"_ Itachi ran to Rias and tried to free her from the creature's grip. Rias, on her part, looked visibly relief at Itachi's arrival, but then her face turned pale.

"Look out!"

The creature's head chomped down on the spot where Itachi was standing.

"…"

Rias' heart sank.

Her friend, her new friend, had died because of her.

As the creature continued to chew on 'Itachi', tears slowly dropped from her eyes.

"Don't eat him!" Rias yelled. The creature now turned its attention back to the crying girl. "Don't eat Itachi! If you want to eat someone, eat me!" Rias yelled while glaring at the creature with a mix of anger and despair. Rias could swear she saw the creature laughing, but that soon turned into fear as it opened its mouth, and was prepared to eat her.

"AAAHHH!"

"Don't eat the main dish yet, you haven't even properly tasted your appetizer," Itachi commented as he dropped from the sky, and gave the creature a really powerful punch to the top of its head that he managed to send its head slamming into the ground, unintentionally releasing Rias in the process.

Seeing Rias, who was thrown airborne by the creature, Itachi quickly jumped to catch her.

Rias had expected to fall to the ground, but then she could feel someone's hands carrying her. "A…" She opened her eyes, and saw Itachi looking at her.

"And you…don't be too hasty in throwing your life, I wouldn't want to see my friend die either," Itachi said.

"S-s-s-s-stupid Itachi! I thought you were dead!" Rias yelled, crying and punching him on the chest.

Itachi put her gently on the ground, and tried his best to comfort her. "I'm sorry for making you worry but really, I didn't expect you to be such a crybaby, Rias," Itachi teased, much to Rias' irritation.

Before Rias could retort, a growl came from the creature. They looked at it, and saw it forcing its head out of the ground.

" _So, that wasn't enough, after all,"_ Itachi thought, as he saw that the creature only had a minor injury on its face. "Rias, stay behind me."

Rias was shocked when she saw Itachi readying his stance again.

"Itachi, don't do this! Lets just run away!" Rias begged.

"We can't," Itachi replied. "This thing is faster than us, we can't outrun it," Itachi explained, much to Rias' horror.

"Does that mean we're going to die?" Rias fearfully asked.

"No. Not if one of us stay behind and hold it back," Itachi said. He looked back to Rias, and she seemed to understand what he was implying.

With a smile, which caused Rias to shake her head and cried uncontrollably, Itachi said, "Rias...live."

At that moment, Itachi dashed towards the creature again.

"Itachi!"

Itachi managed to evade the creature's hands as it tried to pounce on him by taking off to the air. But then, he was faced its head and razor-sharp teeth that was aiming to bite him, but he was able to dodge that as well, but not without a scratch. A small chunk of his flesh was bitten and torn out by it, causing blood to gush out of his abdomen.

"Gaha!" Itachi spewed out blood from his mouth. His reaction time was slower in the air, but he had thought the damage he did to the creature's head would reduce the speed of its neck movements. _"Slight miscalculation…"_ Itachi thought. _"It's alright…there are many chances and openings."_

Suddenly, the creature's movements became more chaotic, making it harder for Itachi to predict how it would attack next.

" _There!"_ Itachi slid underneath the creature's head when it attempted to bite him again. Then, he gave its neck a powerful round kick, which sent its head crashing into the ground again.

The creature was trashing around as its body rolled around due to the effect of the damage that its head received from Itachi's kick and the momentum from swinging its own neck.

"...Weird…" There was something that troubling him about its movements. It was almost as if the creature was in the midst of trying to do something.

Itachi prepared himself once again. He focused chakra to his feet and hands. He would like to use jutsu to deal with this creature, however, he knew that his chakra reserve was very small right now, and at the very worst; he might only be able to utilize one jutsu before he would be struck with exhaustion.

The creature came to a halt, and all of a sudden it pressed its hand-like feet to the ground like a spring and leaped very high to the sky above. Itachi was able to register the height of its jump in time to dodge its massive body from crushing him. However, the injury that he had received hinder him from being able to run far enough, and as a result he was sent flying by the shockwave of its crash-landing.

Itachi opened his eyes, and saw the devastation that was brought upon the land by that single jump.

" _I see... It has an exceptional leaping ability, and combining it with that huge body and weight…it's quite smart despite its ugly look,"_ Itachi thought _._ He saw the creature leaped for the second time, but, instead of running, he used this chance to analyse its leaping ability.

He smirked when he noticed one fatal weakness of the creature, and then he jumped out of danger's way immediately, although he was still got blown away.

" _So, it can't maneuver its body after it jumped… I might be able to use this,"_ Itachi thought. " _All I need is a single chance, and something very sharp and long. After that it will come to its own death."_ Itachi searched around for a sharp object that he could use while at the same time dodging the creature's attempts to kill him.

Suddenly, instead of leaping, it charged at him with its massive mouth wide opened. But it was futile, for Itachi was able to dodge its attack.

The same couldn't be said for Rias, though, for the creature had charged near to where Rias was hiding, and broke many trees on its path.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Rias' scream entered his ears. Itachi's eyes widened at the sight of Rias hiding behind one of the trees.

" _Why didn't she run away?!"_ Itachi alarmingly thought. However, it wasn't just him who had heard her scream, the creature near her could hear it far more clearly than he could.

"Ah…" Rias, who was trembling in fear, created a magic circle and fired a small red sphere on it. It had no effect, and the creature looked more annoyed than hurt by her attack.

"Rias! Run!" Itachi yelled.

It was too late. The creature swatted Rias away with its hand, and Rias was sent flying towards a boulder. Before her body could smash onto it, Itachi gathered all his chakra and made a speed burst that allowed him to catch Rias in time. However, as a result, he was the one who got smashed to the boulder.

"Gah!" Itachi vomited blood again. His back was now injured as well, and he knew this was not a good development. He looked at Rias, and heaved a sigh of relief that she was breathing, albeit unconscious and looked to be in pain.

"Now, then…what to do?" Itachi muttered. The situation had gone from 'manageable' to 'worst', and if this continued, that creature would eat both of them. As it slowly turned to face Itachi, Itachi quickly searched around for something that he could use. He noticed a sharp and long piece of wood from the result of creature's attack, and he immediately knew what the plan would be.

He carried Rias to where the piece of wood was. Once they got there, he smiled at the size and thickness of it.

 _"This must do… I couldn't risk Rias safety anymore than this,_ " Itachi thought, as he moved away from Rias. He crouched down to hide the piece of wood between his feet, but he could only bet on this. He could only hope that the creature would leap towards him instead of charging ahead.

The abomination only cracked its neck, as if to indicate its confusion by its prey's action. But, due to hunger, it didn't bother thinking its next action thoroughly.

It decided to leap again, instead of rushing to him in fear that he would dodge its attempt to eat him again. Itachi saw this, and he let a grin graced his lips.

" _Got you..."_ He infused the piece of wood in his hands with chakra, and stabbed it into the ground. He then dodged the creature's attack once again, but this time, the creature let out an ear-deafening shriek, as black blood sprayed out from its belly.

It trashed around, trying to free itself, but instead the injury had gotten deeper. Itachi slowly walked in front of it, and he clapped his hands together.

"It's useless to struggle. I've infused my chakra into that piece of wood to increase its sharpness and durability," Itachi said. In response, it shrieked at him as it continued to bleed out. "I don't know what you are, and why you are here, but don't worry. I will make this quick."

He quickly flashed several hand seals to unleash the Uchiha clan's trademark fire jutsu.

" _ **KATON: Gokakyu no juts…..!"**_

His attempt to unleash the fire technique was stopped, because of a sudden intense pain that came from inside his body.

He could feel it.

It was the same sensation he felt when he tried to be Sirzechs' pawn, and failed.

It was as if there were explosions happening inside his body. Every blood vessel, muscle tissues, chakra pathway, and even his brain, felt like they would explode anytime.

He was convinced, however, that this was not due to chakra depletion. If the chakra were depleted, then the person would suffer fatigue and exhaustion. This, however, felt like something inside of him was trying to force its way out, as if there were something inside him that had forcefully invaded his chakra pathway to try to come out.

"Agh...Gah...!" He spat blood out of his mouth again, and dropped to the ground. He gritted his teeth, trying to bear the pain, but it didn't stop him from trying to finish this battle before the creature managed to set itself free.

His battle with his own body, however, had made him fail to notice that the creature had freed itself, although there was now a hole where black blood was pouring out in its belly.

Itachi, noticing a large shadow hanging over him, looked up at the towering abomination, and the next moment a hand swatted him away. His body bounced across the ground a few times before he finally landed near Rias.

Bloodied, Itachi stood up and looked at Rias' unconscious face. Then, he looked at the abomination that was now charging towards them. He then decided to retreat and find a safe place where he could hide Rias until the people of the castle came to save her.

Quickly, he carried her and attempted to run, but he found that his legs couldn't move as he wanted to due to the injuries and exhaustion.

The creature took this chance to close their distance, and it quickly swatted Itachi once again.

Itachi held Rias tightly, even as he was crashing through trees, which caused further damages to his small body.

"Ugh!" Itachi grunted in pain when he felt his body slamming into a solid object. He tiredly stared at Rias, and was happy that she didn't get more injuries from all of that. He then noticed a shadow that loomed over them, and he calmly looked up.

The creature seemed to savor every moment it had in tormenting them, and if Itachi's eyes were not playing tricks on him, he could swear he saw the creature laughing at him.

As it was, the only thing keeping him from passing out was his concern for his friend's life. He couldn't care less if he got eaten and die again, but he wouldn't let such fate befell his friend.

To his surprise, the creature opened its eyes. It eyes were black. Completely black and it radiated such inhuman feeling that it managed to give him a cold sweat.

However, the creature had just signed its death warrant, as now he could use his trump card, even if it meant he might have to sacrifice his life to use it.

He focused his sight at the creature's eyes while hoping that his body would hold out when he muttered that word.

" _ **Tsu..ku…yo…mi."**_

And then…the world went dark.

xxx

When Sirzechs, Grayfia, Zeoticus, Venelana and the troops of Gremory arrived, they saw the scene of carnage from Itachi's battle, and they feared that the worst had happened to the two children.

Quickly, they scattered and looked for the children until they saw an abomination of some sort tried to eat the boy and the red-haired girl, who was being embraced by the boy.

In anger, Sirzechs used his power to obliterate the creature, seemingly killing it. What they had failed to notice, however, was that said creature was already dead a moment before their arrival as a result of its mind getting destroyed by Itachi's jutsu.

All the adults, except for Grayfia who were giving instructions to the servants to set up a perimeter and search for any sign of intrusion, went to the children's side.

They feared that they were too late. Their fear was further reinforced when they saw Itachi's bloodied form, and the number of injuries that his young body had.

To their relief, they found that Rias, while injured, was only unconscious. The same couldn't be said for Itachi, however, whose body was covered with blood and injuries.

Zeoticus tried to separate his daughter from the boy's embrace so that they could give him the much-needed treatment. However, he was surprised at how difficult it was to pry his hold on her. It was as if the boy was dead set in protecting the girl, and wouldn't let her out of his embrace out of fear of what could happen to her.

It was then that Zeoticus saw it.

Although the boy had lost his consciousness, his eyes were still opened, and Zeoticus could see the fire in those eyes.

His was not the eyes of a cold-blooded warrior, but rather, a caring person who possessed a great amount of love inside him.

Zeoticus then remembered what his son said.

" _Have you seen his eyes?_

 _Once you've seen his eyes, you will understand why I've made this decision"_

"Pfft…Hahahahahaha~! Zeoticus burst out laughing. His wife, his son, his daughter-in-law, and the rest of the servants and soldiers couldn't understand what was it that he found so funny in this time of emergency.

"I understand! Now I finally understand! Sirzechs! I understand why you've made _that_ decision! Come! All of you! Help me separate my daughter from this boy, no, this young man, so that we can get him back on his feet!" boomed Zeoticus. Venelana and the servants became confused at what the head of Gremory was talking about, while Sirzechs and Grayfia shared a knowing smile and proceeded to assist said man.

It took them almost half an hour to successfully separate the two children. They then proceeded to give emergency treatment to Itachi, before they carried him to one of the rooms so he could receive extensive treatment, and rest.

It took them five days before they finally finished mending every injury to his body.

xxx

" _I am…alive?"_ was what went through the young Uchiha's mind the moment his consciousness return. His eyes moved around to take the details of the room that he was currently laid in. Then, he tried to move his body, but his exhaustion had not yet gone away and his body wouldn't move as he wanted to. He decided to relax his body, but his attention was not on the bed, but on the man sitting on the couch near the fireplace.

"So you noticed me? Not bad, not bad at all. And here I thought you would sleep forever, sleeping beauty~." Surprisingly the one who teased him was not Sirzechs, but rather, Zeoticus.

"You've been asleep for eight nights now since that day when you protected my daughter," Zeoticus explained, smiling gratefully at him.

Itachi didn't care whether the man wanted to scorn or thank him. All he cared about was what happened in those eight days. "What happened while I was asleep?"

"Well…" Zeoticus explained what happened the last eight days to Itachi while he was unconscious. He explained that the security of the castle had been increased, how they were now searching for any clues as to how that abomination could intrude on their soil without anyone noticing, what manner of creature it was, and how he had continued to receive treatments from the best medics they had.

However, none of that mattered to him at the moment. Itachi was only concerned about one thing.

"What happened to Rias? Is she alright?"

Zeoticus's smile became wider, and he encouraged Itachi to look to his right.

True enough, Rias was hugging his blanket, and was sleeping while sitting on a chair. Based on the expression on her face, and the trails of tears on her face, Itachi realized that she must have been crying. She was holding 'Sailor Luna-chan' on her right hand, and based on what she had said, then the figurine on her left hand must be 'Kamen-kun'.

"She wouldn't stop crying you know?" said Zeoticus, grabbing Itachi's attention. "She kept asking when you would wake up, and what should she do so that you could get better and then wake up. She would not stop talking about you the past eight days, and she had even ignored Sirzechs' attempts to cheer her. Do you even realize how worried she was?"

"…"

"Seriously, kids these days. That being said..." Zeoticus stood up from his chair, and looked at Itachi in the eyes. "Thank you, and I'm sorry."

"…For what?"

"For protecting my daughter…and for doubting you." With that, Zeoticus left the room to allow the young man to get his much needed rest.

Itachi looked at Zeoticus' walking out of the room before looking back to Rias. He gently ruffled her hair, trying not to wake her, and then he closed his eyes once more.

xxx

It took another three days before Itachi was fully recovered, and during that time Rias wouldn't stop bugging him. Her reasoning being that a sick person had to be spoon-fed. He gave up to the inevitable, which was letting Rias took care of him, after her constant nagging.

Sirzechs, on the other hand, became depressed when he saw this and kept muttering 'how lucky he was to be spoon-fed by Ria-tan', and 'how he wanted to be cared by Ria-tan, too'. Grayfia saw this, and she decided to give Sirzechs a version of her own _'spoon-fed',_ much to Sirzechs' horror.

Zeoticus and Venelana, meanwhile, were looking amused at the interactions of the youngsters.

And now, the day when they would part ways had finally arrived. Rias really looked like she was going to cry, which made both Sirzechs and Zeoticus came to her side to spoil her.

"Now then~, it is time for us to go~," Sirzechs cheerfully said as Grayfia conjured a teleportation magic.

Itachi couldn't help but to wonder why they didn't use one of those magic circles to teleport here instead of using a carriage. But, his thought was halted when he felt someone grabbed his hand.

"Hm?" As he had suspected, it was Rias. She looked like an abandoned puppy with her expression, so he tried to give a few words of comfort. But, before he could say anything…

HUG

…she hugged him.

"….Rias?"

"Promise me that you'll come to play, okay?" said Rias with a restraint voice. Itachi simply smiled at that.

"…Okay"

"Huhuhu..." Now, Itachi was very sure he knew who was radiating this feeling of dread.

"Ria-tan's hug…how nice…"

But, it quickly disappeared, replaced by a sudden screaming of You-Know-Who as the result of punishment from YOU-KNOW-WHO. Itachi gently pushed Rias away, trying to ease the envious glare that Sirzechs, and Zeoticus to a small extent, was sending to him. On the other had, this caused Rias to pout angrily at him.

"Well then, Sirzechs-san, let's go."

"Huh? What are you talking about? You're not coming back with us. You're going to live here from now on," Sirzechs replied seriously.

….

…

"..I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. What did you say?"

"As I said you will live here from now on. Okaa-san and Otou-san had already agreed with this decision," Sirzechs said.

Itachi only stared at the adults of Gremory clan, and sure enough, they gave him a nod saying that their son had spoken the truth. Rias was overjoyed by this news, and she instantly hugged Itachi again. As for Itachi…

"…"

…he was massaging his forehead.

"By the way Sirzechs, I am still curious about that thing," Zeoticus said.

"What thing?"

"The one about children."

"Ah~, that one~. Itachi-kun do you know the reason why we didn't use magic circles back then, and opted to use carriage instead?" Sirzechs asked.

"Don't know, don't care," Itachi coldly answered. Sirzechs instantly dropped to the ground, while everyone else except Rias was sweatdropping.

"Why are you so cold to me?! What have I done to you to deserve this kind of treatment?" Sirzechs asked, crying as he pulled on Itachi's clothes.

"Fine…why?" Itachi flatly asked. He was already too tired to deal with Sirzechs' antic, and adding to that was Rias' constant nagging; he could feel his patience running thin. Everyone sweatdropped again at Itachi's obvious lack of interest in whatever Sirzechs was about to say.

Sirzechs stood up, and with tears on the edges of his eyes, he said, "Well~, since I'm going to be a father, I might as well have a mock conversation training for when my child is born~."

"A father?"

"Yes~."

"…."

"…."

"….."

All eyes stared at Grayfia, who looked visibly embarrassed while patting her belly.

"That means I'm going to become a grandfather?"

"Yes~."

Happiness erupted from Zeoticus. For Gremory clan, who had extraordinary level of affection, this kind of thing was one that would surely bring tears and joys to them. Even Itachi couldn't help but to let out a thin smile when he saw this, as he was reminded of the time when Sasuke was born and the joy his parents had back then.

However, the moment of happiness was brought to an end when Rias, who didn't understand why her father was cheering, grabbed his hand. She then proceeded to drop the bomb.

"Otou-sama, may I sleep with Itachi?" Rias innocently pleaded.

Spring turned into winter in an instant. The room temperature dropped immediately. Heartwarming gaze from the men slowly turned into a cold murderous glare. Killing intent became so thick that it could be seen by the naked eyes. Red aura enveloped the entire castle, and the servants and soldiers became frightened by this. And, all of this was directed to a single young man, who only stared passively at the scene in front of him. The women, on the other hand, only let out a tired sigh.

"I can't?"

"No…Of course you can," Zeoticus smiled, although his eyes said otherwise. He gave the young man a very intense murderous glare that literally said _'if you do anything weird to her, even death wouldn't save you from what you will experience'_.

Itachi could only sigh. It seemed his future would be a hectic one.

xxx

 **[Gremory castle – Rias room]**

Itachi opened his eyes after making sure that Rias was asleep. He felt tired tremendously, after all the things that had happened in the past two weeks. He then proceeded to do what he had been planning to do, but couldn't because someone (Rias) kept bothering him.

He stood in front of a mirror, and muttered one word.

" _ **Sharingan!"**_

His eyes changed from black to red with three little tomoe in it. He was surprised when he saw his reflection, because of what the Sharingan had shown to him.

His chakra was not visible.

It wasn't that his chakra had disappeared. No, it was because there were two different 'colors' that were not there originally flowing in his chakra pathway.

These were not something from his body, these were something foreign, and these 'colors' overwhelmed his chakra, completely covering it up. If his eyes did not deceive him, then these 'colors', whatever they represented, seemingly battled each other to be the dominant force in his body.

" _Not good…"_ He deduced that whatever these things were, they were the ones responsible for his pain when he tried to use a ninjutsu. And, if the pain were any indications, then using a ninjutsu would be fatal for him.

He then noticed that one of the 'color' seemed very familiar, a red color that was very wild. He came to a sudden realization that this red 'color' was the same as the one that Great Red hadused toenvelop him. But, then a question popped up on his head.

" _If the red one comes from Great Red…then who was responsible for this…platinum color? In the first place, who brought me here? Great Red only transported me to the Underworld, but who was responsible for reviving me and placing me in this world? What is going on here…?"_

Itachi kept asking questions after questions in his mind, from the purpose of his existence here, to the goals of whomever, or whatever, brought him here.

But, the noise from behind him made him stopped his train of thought. When he looked back, he saw the sleeping form of Rias who was currently sleep talking.

She flapped her arms as if she had lost something to hug in her sleep.

Itachi sighed, and silently went back to bed so as not to awake the little girl. As he had expected, she immediately hugged him… _again._

Itachi could only let out a small sigh when the girl cuddled his head to her chest. Of course, being an adult, even if he was in a child's body, he would not get stimulated or embarrassed by this thanks to his amazing self-control. Not to mention, he himself was severely lacking in that department, and had zero interest in it. But, the same couldn't be said for the girl, who was currently hugging him on her sleep.

" _Well, sooner or later, she would prefer to sleep alone anyway. It's not like she's going to insist on sleeping together when she is older,"_ was what Itachi thought before he let sleep claimed him.

Oh…he didn't realize how wrong he was.

xxx

End of Chapter 2

xxx

 **[?]**

"So? Was that enough for demonstration?"

"Demonstration of what? The abilities of the creature that you pulled from that _other_ universe?"

"No, I meant the strength of that man's eyes."

"…."

"Even though he was suffering from the modifications that I gave him, he was still able to finish it nicely. I think that's enough reason for you to use him."

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Putting him inside the Dimensional Gap before modifying his body."

"He needed something to mask his bizarre existence to the world. I could do it to him myself, but I was interested in what could've happen if I sent him in that state to see that dragon~."

"…."

"As to why I modified his body, I was simply wondering how he will fare if I put a power with a contradicting nature to that of chakra in his body."

"That's not what I meant. Why turned him into a child?"

"You can't be that stupid, right? Surely, you have an idea as to why I even bothered doing it. Do you want what happened back then to repeat itself?"

"…What about Great Red? It leaves a presence inside him. What if it managed to detect our presence using that?"

"It could try, but in the end, it wouldn't be able to."

"What made you think so?"

"Simple, it's out of date compared to me. Well, _everything_ is out of date compared to me, including you, of course. After all, _even though you're the one who ruled over death, but unlike me who stands_ _above the system_ _, you're still a_ _part of the system._ "

"…"

"What's wrong? Why so sullen?"

"…What are you scheming?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me. If you were scheming nothing, then you could have pulled out the one who has stronger eyes than him from the _Pure World,_ that way the risk of failure is…."

"Is there any value in me lying to you? Besides, even if I pulled Hagoromo out of _Pure World,_ you wouldn't be able to control him. He is more powerful than you, after all."

"…"

"Do you have anything more to say? No? Well then, I'll take my leave."


	3. Peerage, Maous, and a Magical Girl?

**So, uh… apparently the previous version of this story is posted in a Russian website. I've looked at it and can only wonder how the hell it ended up there.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own NARUTO or High school DxD.**

xxx

 **Fate is a cruel concept. Fate causes siblings to kill each other. Fate turns friends into enemies. However, Fate also what caused the meeting between people. Fate gives the chance to forge a brand new relationship. This is the story of a person who discards his happiness for peace and gains a chance to find a new happiness in a new world.**

xxx

"Tsukuyomi!" = Normal Talking

" _ **Tsukuyomi!" =**_ Jutsu/Magic/Techniques

" _Tsukuyomi!" =_ Thought

" **Tsukuyomi!" =** Dragon/Sacred Gear talking

xxx

Chapter 3

 **Peerage, Maous, and a Magical Girl?**

xxx

 **[Gremory castle]**

It had been more than a year now. It had been more than a year since Gremory clan had adopted Itachi.

During that time, he had been taught various subjects ranging from math to science, and even lessons on social economic, which made him sweatdropped as he was convinced that it wasn't something that a child needed to learn just yet. Not that he found that subject to be difficult, and it didn't take long for him to fully understand the theories.

Just like during his time in academy, he hardly needed assistance in his learning, though he did initially find it difficult to grasp and understand the more complex concepts and theories in math and science, especially physics. While he had seen many jutsu that could be said to be the practical embodiments of physics theories, and many that actually defied it as well, this was the first time he learned about the _actual_ formulas behind them.

He was not ashamed to admit his fascination at how advance this world actually was, especially since its science and technological advancements were way ahead of his own.

He was most interested, however, with its history. He had always liked to learn about history and the teaching of the elders, for through them he could ensure that the same mistakes wouldn't be made in the future. To learn that this world had kept its history records as far back as six thousand years, and possibly even further, it made him wonder whether there was someone out there who was in charge of keeping those records intact.

It saddened him, though, that, even in this world, wars existed and were still tormenting the lives its people.

Something had been bothering him, though, regarding the history of this world.

This world was comprised of many different realms.

There was Underworld, where most devils and fallen angels resided.

There was Heaven, where God and his angels resided.

There was Valhalla, home to Valkyries, which was ruled by Odin.

There was Olympus, where the Olympian gods resided.

And, of course, there was the Human World, where humans lived.

There were many other realms that he could try to list, but something about them bothered him so much.

While these realms had waged war against each other many times before, why did none of them ever came into conflict with Human World? Was it because Human World was not worth their attentions, even though it would be very easy for them to invade and conquer it in the past?

Or…was there something else that discouraged them from doing so?

He was also concerned regarding the matters related to the Great War between the three Great Powers that were the angels, the devils, and the fallen angels. That war had split the devil's community into two factions; the anti-Maou faction consisting of those who supported the new Maous and were in favor of peace, and the old-Maou faction consisting of those who supported the old Maous and wanted to continue the Great War.

While the anti-Maou faction had gained victory, he knew from experience that the dissenting voices from the old-Maou faction remained, and there were still people that would take any opportunity to ignite the Great War once again. He had no doubt that those dissenting voices were not only limited to devils. It should be safe to assume that there were angels and fallen angels that wanted to continue the war as well considering the level of animosity that these factions had for one another.

Itachi sighed as he closed the history tome, and stared at the title tiredly. Whenever he read the name of the book, he sweatdropped at the... _'artistic'_ nature of the title.

' **History Lesson for You Who Have Too Much Free Time: Seriously, You Have Too Much Free Time if You Are Reading This (LOL)'**

 _Written By: The one and only, the Genius Ajuka._

Whoever this Ajuka person was, Itachi only had an image of an eccentric, if not slightly insane, scientist from reading the content of the tome. Just from reading the title alone, he felt that this person was definitely arrogant and could be slightly narcissistic as well. However, amongst the history tomes that he had read, none of them looked as complete as this one even though the size was ridiculous, with the last page had the number 17343 on its footnote.

Of course, even if the information that was given to him seemingly covered every detail regarding the history of the world, he only took them with a grain of salt. Only after he had seen with his own eyes the state of those realms and double-checking on the real situations that he would truly believe what was written there. It was very easy to falsify history to your liking, after all.

He decided to wait until his body had grown old enough to start his journey, as he knew how weak he was at the moment.

Now then, lets move on to the more pressing issues.

He truly appreciated everything that had been provided for him by Gremory clan this past year. Although, it still did not sit well for him to receive these much kindness without having to pay them back. However, due to the insistence of Zeoticus, who declared to him that all of these were nothing compared to what he had done for his daughter, he could only resign and accept them. Unknown to them, however, Itachi was still planning to pay back their hospitality anyway.

Additionally, there were two problems that continued to worry him.

First problem; he had tried many times to gain control over the two foreign 'colors' that were battling for domination in his body. He failed to control either of them. Therefore, the only thing he could do was to isolate his chakra so that, hopefully, it wouldn't be affected in any way.

Second problem, and also a headache-inducing issue, was regarding a young girl named Rias. She was a nice a spirited young girl; he had the opportunity to know that this past year.

She was nice, kind, helpful, eager to learn, and her future looked very bright.

But, she had never left him alone.

She had always run to find him once she woke up, and then clung to him for the rest of the day.

She had always tried to drag him to take a bath with her, which thankfully was something that he was able to prevent, and he was able to escape the envious glare of Zeoticus in the process.

She had always hugged him in her sleep.

And, she had always forced him to watch the shows called _anime_ and read books called _manga_ with her during her free time.

Once, Itachi had let his curiosity took the better of him and had asked the tutor to tell him about the Human World in great details. Rias then came barging in and declared that she would be teaching Itachi about it, much to his horror. The tutor was more than glad that 'Rias-sama' was so _'proactive_ ' in her learning, and he let Rias had that particular session to spend to try to tell Itachi what she knew about Human World. Needless to say, the things she told him included things like super robots, space detective, and futuristic ninja.

Itachi sweatdropped at how easy the tutor dropped his lesson time. The tutor merely replied that Itachi had no need for intensive study sessions, as he had proven himself to be a genius by mastering most subjects he could teach him in a short time.

Itachi himself shook his head, denying the tutor's words. Genius or not, to him, what was important was the efforts, just like how certain 'blue beast' and 'failure' from his village had proven. Besides, he was not a genius; he was just more perceptive to certain matters than others.

When he tried to persuade the tutor to tell him what he knew about Human World, Rias suddenly made (unnecessary) declarations.

" _If it's about the Human World, then let me be the one to teach Itachi!"_

" _Don't worry! I know a lot about the Human World."_

" _Souji said if it's the Human World, then it can only be samurai and bushido!"_

" _So from now on we should watch this together!"_

Itachi massaged his head as he remembered the time when Rias made those declarations. He pulled out an anime DVD called 'Samurai Cross' from his sleeve. To be honest, he would like to throw it into a garbage bin somewhere, but if Rias found out about it, he would have to deal with an angry little girl who could shoot a ball of energy that could destroy a rock the size of an adult's head.

Still, Itachi could not believe how long this anime was. He had watched it every day, and it was still nowhere near the end.

He had a feeling - no, he was confident that Rias had somehow been misled by this _'Souji'_ regarding the society and culture of the Human World, and thus he had made a mental note to have a _'private discussion'_ should he get the chance to meet the man directly.

As it was, he had no choice but to learn everything about the Human World by himself, partially due to the servants' reluctance to disobey their princess, and mainly because they found it amusing and adorable to see the how their princess acted so fired up.

Therefore, every night he sneaked out and stealthily entered the library when everyone was asleep. One night he saw a suspicious-looking book, and that was how he encountered the book with this ridiculous and insulting name.

However, reminiscing about this brought an even bigger headache.

He had severely underestimated Rias' sleeping habit. Although he had no problem sleeping with her every night, as he accounted it to a young girl who wanted to sleep with her friend, her habit of cuddling his head to her chest was extremely problematic.

He had no problem with it, since he simply saw Rias as a younger sister.

However, having learnt of the so called _'otaku culture'_ thanks to Rias, he could not help but be worried for her in the future, especially if she encountered people with _a certain taste a.k.a. a lolicon,_ and suddenly gave them a hug.

He could only imagine what kind of reactions these people might have if she hugged them in her sleep. At the same time, he felt concerned about the safety of his own life should Zeoticus find out about this. He felt he might need to fight for his survival should the elder Gremory know that Rias was hugging him in her sleep.

" _I need to do something about her sleeping habit. It will be problematic if she kept this habit when she's grown up. It might cause misunderstanding when she sleeps with other people,"_ Itachi thought. What he didn't realize, however, was that Rias did not have this tendency when she slept with people other than him. Well, it was to be expected, since he never saw her sleeping with other people except for him in the past year.

"Itachi~."

"Itachi-sama."

Came two voices that he knew very well who the owners were. One was a source of headache and one was someone he had gained a respect for.

He stood up from his chair, and turned to see Rias riding on the back of what appeared to be an Asian dragon, but with a body that looked like a combination of a deer and a horse.

"Rias, Enku-san," Itachi greeted them back. Rias immediately pouted, as she didn't like how Itachi's face was basically saying, 'ah…here comes trouble'. Enku himself merely chuckled at Rias' attempt to pinch Itachi's cheek, which failed miserably because Itachi continued to effortlessly avoid Rias' hands.

Enku was a _qilin,_ a mythical creature that was said to bring omen of fortune and prosperity upon anyone who saw it. Enku was also a member of Sirzechs' peerage, one of his 'Pawns', and someone who was assigned by Sirzechs to be Rias' caretaker and guard after the incident that happened a year ago.

Although Itachi disliked it, Enku insisted to address Itachi with the honorific 'sama' to a persistent degree, and wouldn't even consider dropping it. This happened after he heard how Itachi had put his life on the line to protect Rias, and though Itachi had tried to persuade Enku not to be so formal with him, he learned firsthand how stubborn a qilin could be.

Quite often Itachi smiled wryly to himself the moment he saw Enku, considering that the jutsu that was developed to kill him by Sasuke was based on this polite and humble being.

Enku noticed the tome on the table behind Itachi. "Have you found what you seek, Itachi-sama?" Enku asked. Itachi just shook his head, while trying to fend off Rias' hands.

"Gugugu…you're so stubborn…!" Rias grumbled in annoyance. Her eyes looked like she was about to start bawling, though.

"I'd rather not taste any pain on my face so early in the morning," Itachi said calmly, continuing to stay out of Rias' range. "What have I done to you, anyway?"

"You look like that!" Rias shouted, angrily pointing her finger at Itachi's face

Although he knew what she referred to, Rias looked too adorable at the moment and so Itachi decided to tease her a bit more. "Like that? Like what?"

"Like you're looking at a troublemaker or something!" Rias shouted again, pouting as her eyes started to glisten.

Itachi stopped moving and with a flat stare, he said,"…Aren't you one?"

Rias weakly pulled back her hand. "So you thought of me like that…" Rias casted her gaze downward, her eyes were almost hidden entirely behind her bangs.

" _.._."

Itachi mentally slapped his face. While Rias was without a doubt a strong child, he had learned that Rias had a very sensitive heart, and the thought of people she cherished disliking her was more than enough to send her into depression. Apparently she didn't have this problem before that incident happened, and according to Venelana, the current Rias would have a small breakdown whenever she saw people she was close with bleeding or injured even if it were nothing but the slightest of injuries.

Itachi understood what kind of traumatic effect that kind of life-threatening experience would have on people, even more so with children. For a girl who had just hit her seventh birthday like Rias, to face that monstrosity, and on top of that witnessing the injuries it inflicted upon someone whom she had just befriended, the toll must have been very heavy on both her heart and mind.

Itachi felt he was somewhat responsible for Rias turning the way she was right now. Had he dealt with the situation with better planning and actions, maybe, just maybe, things would've had ended up differently for Rias. He knew it was useless to dwell in the past and playing what-ifs scenario in his head would not change what had already happened. All he could do now was to help Rias slowly overcome her issues.

For now, though, Itachi had a plan to bring back her bright and cheery disposition. First, he stretched his fingers, and then secondly, with one swift move…

POKE

"Nyaaah!"

…he poked Rias' forehead with enough force to leave smoking red mark and send her head recoiling slightly from the force of the impact.

Itachi's eyes twitched slightly, intrigued by the sound she made. _"What are you? A cat?"_ Itachi sarcastically asked.

"Mumumu…what are you doing that for?!" Rias sobbed angrily, glaring at Itachi with tears in her eyes.

"Stop being depressed, I was merely teasing you. Besides, do you honestly think I would dislike you even if you're a troublemaker?" Itachi calmly asked while staring at Rias straight in the eyes.

Rias almost took a step back under the pressure of Itachi's gaze, but even so she stood firm on the spot. "B-but…I thought people dislike troublemaker…"

"…Maybe…but I'm not most people, Rias. And, even if you really turned into one in the future, I will always stay with you (as a friend and family) no matter what," Itachi assured, petting Rias on the head. Enku raised his eyebrows at the somewhat shameless words Itachi had said. It seemed he now had something interesting to tell to his 'King' and his 'King's' parents.

"Really? You mean it?" Rias timidly asked. Itachi only gave her a nod, but Rias instantly gave him a big hug. "Itachi~, I love you too~," Rias confessed with face as red as her hair, while rubbing her cheek with Itachi's. Itachi tiredly sighed at Rias' display of innocence and affection, yet he still returned her hug and gently caressed her back and head.

While this was happening, Itachi could swear he heard the qilin whistling at them from the background. Itachi made a mental note to have a _private discussion_ with Enku later, or else he might hear idiotic claims, and received endless pestering from a moronic tomato-headed of a siscon older brother.

Itachi gently pushed Rias off him, much to her annoyance, before grabbing his bag.

"Where are you going?" Rias asked, eyeing his bag curiously. She had planned to spend the rest of the day with Itachi, and she was hoping that he had free time as well considering he had been quite busy with his study and other things.

"I'm going out to do some simple errands for the servants," Itachi answered.

It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth, either.

He had indeed offered to get the stuffs that the servants needed to buy. Despite their insistence that he had no need to do such thing for them, he was adamant and simply said that they had done so much for him in the past year that he wanted to do something for them in return, as they were already like a family to him.

Moved by his words, some of the male and oldest servants shed manly tears at his words, while most female servants and maids began cuddling him non-stop. Itachi appreciated their feelings, but he really didn't like how the lady were cuddling him, especially considering that all of them had quite a bountiful asset. It would be a nightmare if people were to begin perceiving him as a breast sommelier.

However, he would also use this chance to go out of the castle _without_ Rias following him around like a puppy. He wanted to check the various spots where he could him train, and to find places where informants gathered.

"Mou~, you can just leave those chores to them, you know?" Rias complained.

"Rias, would you help your servants if they were in need of assistance and help?"

"I'd do it. If it's for them, I'd do my best to help," Rias answered without hesitation.

"See? It's not that different, except I offered it to them instead of waiting for it to come," Itachi reasoned. Rias nodded, understanding his intention. Itachi looked at Rias for a moment, and then he pulled out a piece of paper that had the list of goods that he needed to buy.

" _Detergents, seaweeds, apples and deodorant?"_ Itachi incredulously thought.

They had never sweat as far as he knew, so why would they even need deodorant? Besides, their sickeningly thick perfume should have completely masked any foul odour they had, if they even had one. He then read the rest of the goods, but immediately sweatdropped as his sight fell on the words written at the very bottom of the paper.

"…Women…panties…" Itachi didn't realize that he was reading those words out loud.

Rias, who heard the word 'panties', instantly snatched the list from Itachi. The next moment, her hair began radiating red aura as her icy eyes glared menacingly at Itachi. Itachi glanced toward Enku, hoping to get some kind of help. But to Itachi's misfortune, Enku was snickering at him, looking truly amused by the scene he was seeing.

"Itachi...what's the meaning of this?" Rias calmly asked, holding the paper in front of Itachi's nose.

"Seems like some maids wanted me to buy them new underwear. Perhaps, they're in urgent need of it and thought it was fine to ask me since I'm a child," Itachi said, trying to blow off Rias' fury.

He succeeded, but in exchange, Rias was giving him the dirty look.

"Mu~, Itachi, you sure get along well with those maids," Rias said. Then, as if she had gained an epiphany from god-knows-where, she pointed at Itachi. "Hah! Don't tell me! You have someone you like among the maids?! That's the real reason why you're so eager to help them, right? To impress her, right?!" Rias accused, looking visibly shocked at the prospect of Itachi being taken away by one of her servants.

…

…

…

This sure turned into one hell of a misunderstanding real quick.

Itachi looked at Enku, who was doing his best to hold his laughter, and then he looked back at Rias.

"No, I'm not," Itachi replied with a completely neutral face.

"Mou~, don't lie to me! I know boys who live in a castle love to have a relationship with their maids!" Rias pressed on, glaring at Itachi with pouty face.

…

…

"...What anime was that from?"

"It's not from an anime! It's from this manga called…AH!" Rias pulled out a manga from who-knows-where, but before she could tell him the name, Itachi snatched the manga away from her. He quickly read through it, and true enough the story of the manga was about an unfortunate maid who fell in love with her master and vice versa.

In other words, it was a shoujo manga. Itachi understood the appeal that this type of story had for girls, especially teenagers, but at the same time it still baffled him how the ladies in the castle were somewhat obsessed with manga like this. One time, he even saw Venelana read a manga like this by accident.

Closing the manga with a definite 'thump', Itachi stared passively at Rias.

"Rias."

"Wh-what?"

POKE

Itachi delivered another finger poke to Rias' forehead. This time it didn't have as great of a power behind it as before, but it was more than enough to make Rias reacted in annoyance.

"Mou~!" Rias crossed her hands in front of her forehead.

"You really shouldn't believe anything that this manga tells you. Many things that happen in this book are the product of the author's imaginations. Only a fool would actually take the stuff written here seriously," Itachi explained.

"I-I know that!" Rias defended firmly, yet her face was faintly flushing.

"Do you now?" Itachi asked, looking utterly unconvinced.

"I do!" Rias shot back. "But…" Rias brought her hands to her mouth to cover a growing smile. "This means I don't have to worry that you'd be taken away, right?" Rias whispered.

"Hm?" Itachi couldn't quite hear what Rias had said just now.

"It's nothing!" Rias yelled, waving her hands with red face.

"U-HUM."

Both Rias and Itachi turned their attentions towards Enku, who was staring at them as if they were some kind of first-grade entertainers.

"As entertaining as it is to watch your conversation, I am afraid we have something that needs to be done. Itachi-sama," Enku called out to Itachi.

"What is it?"

"Sirzechs-sama has asked for your presence in his castle this afternoon, however, I am afraid I have no idea what he wanted from you," Enku explained.

"No, it's alright. Thank you, Enku-san," replied Itachi. He then turned his attention to Rias who looked visibly disappointed.

"So…you can't play with me today?" Rias asked. Itachi scratched his head for a bit, and then…

POKE

…he poked her for the third time.

"Ah! Mou~!" Rias pouted since it felt like Itachi didn't take her seriously.

"Forgive me, Rias… Next time, alright?" Itachi asked with a warm smile.

"Okay…" Rias reluctantly agreed. Beside, from her experience, she knew Itachi would fulfil his promise to her.

Itachi looked at her contently, an expression that was shared by Enku. He started walking away, but not before leaving one last remark.

"Rias."

"What?"

"Don't eat too much cake or you'll have toothache," Itachi warned. He had smelled a sweet scent of cake coming from Rias. Knowing that Rias loved to gobble on sweet while watching anime, it would be simply a matter of time before she suffered toothache. It didn't help that Zeoticus was spoiling her, though Venelana was there to knock some sense to her husband's head.

"HMPH!" Rias huffed, crossed her arms and threw her face to the side. Enku's smile grew wider, but unfortunately, Rias noticed it.

"Enku~! What's so funny?!" Rias asked, looking visibly upset that her caretaker was also teasing her.

"It is nothing, Ojou-sama," Enku said while chuckling, which caused Rias to become even more upset than before.

xxx

Itachi was standing in front of the back gate, heading toward the nearest town in Gremory's fief. While the path from the main gate was much shorter, he found it more comfortable to go out using the back door.

It was because he didn't have to deal with some pesky people who seemed to be having fun in making his life as uncomfortable as possible.

The first time he went out through the main gate, the servants who saw him immediately halted his advance, and tried to dress him in more appropriate clothing. If a long black pants, and a black vest on top of a white shirt were not considered appropriate enough, he shuddered to think what clothes they would've had dressed him in.

The second time he went out through the main gate, some of the more easy-going guards approached him and before long they had somehow able to force him to play old maid with them, and betting their possessions. Itachi lost a few games at first, losing a couple of doujins and action figures in the process, but after he had fully grasped the rules and tricks of the game, he was presented with several crying guards wearing only their underwear at the end of the games.

The moment Zeoticus discovered this, he was furious, but for a completely different reason than what Itachi had expected.

One would expect a Lord of his standing to be outraged by the behaviour that his subordinates exhibited. Instead, Zeoticus was furious because nobody invited him to join the game.

" _You fools! How dare you have fun without me! Deal the cards, I'll show you how a true professional plays!"_

Itachi was not someone who could get so surprised he would be left dumbstrucked. However, Zeoticus' childishness was such that Itachi almost fell down from his chair. Itachi almost forgot, that the man who was the Lord of Gremory clan was also the father of a certain crimson-haired Maou. It shouldn't be weird that his brain turned out to have some loose screws.

It made even worse when said Lord began betting his belongings as well. Although fortunately, Zeoticus turned out to be a very skilled player who managed to send the rest of the guards back to their barrack with nothing but their underwear as well.

The problem came when Zeoticus turned his attention to Itachi. Itachi had tried to slip out of Zeoticus' sight using the commotion, but alas, Zeoticus was able to catch him.

" _Come, Itachi. Sit down and play with me. Don't worry, I won't take anything from you, or force you to do anything strange."_

At that time, Zeoticus was giving him a friendly smile, but Itachi had never seen such a blatant ulterior motive written on someone's face before.

Itachi tried to refuse, but the few guards that had their clothes robbed (in their eyes, that is) by Itachi forced him to sit down and play the game, or else they declared that they would send him curses every day.

Itachi would have scoffed at their threats, if they weren't just happened to be a part of a supernatural race that might very well have the powers to make those threats came true.

Knowing he had no way out, Itachi questioned Zeoticus regarding his intentions should he win.

Zeoticus' answer?

" _I want you to record Rias for me!"_

There was that, wasn't it? A father who was so overprotective of his children that he even wanted to have a record of their daily life to feel at ease.

" _Do it yourself. As a parent, what meaning is there if you ask someone else to do that?"_

So Itachi asked.

Zeoticus' reply?

" _You moron! How could I have recording of Rias' every second when she wouldn't let anyone but you and Venelana enter the bath with her?!"_

"…"

It was at that moment that Itachi finally understood; Sirzechs definitely inherited his idiocy from this man. Zeoticus was no overprotective parent; he was just a stupid dad. He had thought Zeoticus' answer would be because the man was busy with his duty, but it seemed he literally wanted to record _every second_ of Rias' life that Venelana had barred him from touching a video camera.

Knowing he had to take a drastic measure to deal with this situation, Itachi decided to take a very risky gamble.

" _Very well, but on one condition. You have to win against me, and should you lose, you have to honour my request."_

" _Humph, don't get cocky just because you've won against a bunch of amateurs. I'll show you why I was hailed as the King of Games in my youth!"_

It was a difficult game. Itachi's tricks didn't work against Zeoticus and he was cornered many times by the older player. Defeat almost seemed certain for Itachi…alas, for the next four weeks, the patriarch of Gremory clan sat on his throne with nothing but his underwear, and was not allowed to see his daughter by his wife until he had repented.

While he felt bad and slightly guilty for what he did, Itachi felt the need to give Zeoticus a humiliating experience, at least enough so that the man would no longer consider asking him to do something like that again, for his own and Rias' sake.

And then, there was that one incident.

Itachi was strolling in the hallway near the main gate, trying to find where the storeroom was to put the training sword back, when a young girl around Rias' age called out loudly to a servant. He didn't realize whom it was that she referred to as a servant until after she had pulled his shirt, and futilely tried to force him to face her. When Itachi did look at her, the first thing that stuck in his mind was the impression that she gave him.

The young girl had a similar presence to Rias, and by that it meant that his first impression of her screamed _'this one's going to be a trouble so it'd be better to just run away now_.'

The girl herself was quite tall, almost as tall as Itachi, and was definitely taller than Rias. Long flowing greenish-blonde hair kept in place by an ornate hair ornament, a beautiful face that seemed to have always been looked after, and sharp ruby-coloured eyes that were glaring dagger at him.

Unfortunately, all those great features were flushed down the drain the moment she opened her mouth. This girl had one of the harshest tongues he had ever encountered, and to make matters worse, she was completely looking down on him.

The girl demanded for him to show her the way to the ballroom, but Itachi simply dashed off and left the girl alone. To his surprise, the girl was able to catch up to him, but after an hour of non-stop running, the girl finally fell to the ground while breathing heavily.

Itachi left the girl alone once he saw a maid running at their direction, but not before he heard how the girl vowed to make him pay for the humiliation.

Itachi had not seen the girl since, and frankly, he'd rather not. He had more than enough in his hands dealing with Rias alone, and if there was more, he felt he would need to start taking constant medication for his poor head.

Which was something that he would probably need very soon.

xxx

 **[Underworld – market]**

"300…350…400. Yep, all good. Thank you for the business, boy~." The clerk winked as she handed Itachi a large paper bag. Itachi took the paper bag and immediately made his way out of that particular shopping district.

He looked at the paper bag in his hand, and tried his best to hide his displeasure.

In this bag were dozens of women panties, ranging from innocent looking to slightly risqué ones. When Itachi had entered the store and told the clerk that he was there to get underwear for maids, the clerk stared at him coldly like he was a pervert brat, much to his chagrin. Fortunately, the moment he mentioned the word 'Gremory', the clerk immediately understood his purpose and went to get the goods.

Going by this experience, if by chance someone were to witness the content of this bag, he doubted he would have an easy time explaining why he was carrying women panties.

As such, he might have been a bit paranoid for doing this, but he had glued the bag to ensure nobody would be able to even peek at its content.

" _Maybe I'm overdoing it…but…"_ Itachi glanced at the people around him, careful in his steps to ensure nobody would stumble on him.

Itachi felt his luck had been really bad ever since he arrived in this world, and he just had a feeling that something terrible would happen if he dropped his guard even for a moment.

Sighing, the only thing he could do was to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

" _Now then…I guess I'll start looking for…hm?"_ Itachi's eyes caught a sight of a large crowd gathering near the fountain at the large intersection circle. Apparently there was something going on, and if the cheers were any indications then it must have been something good.

Curiosity killed the cat was a really appropriate saying to be used here. If only Itachi was not curious to know what was happening, then not only he would not have to deal with a problem caused by the contents of the Pandora Box in his hand, he also would've had gotten spared from facing a long lasting future predicament.

He squeezed in through the crowd, trying to get a better look at the scene happening in the centre of the circle. There was a large stage in the centre of the circle, and on the stage was a girl, whose face was being obscured with stage effects. One thing for sure, though, said girl…

"Hai~, Hai~! It's everyone's idol~! Magical Levia-tan~!"

…was cheerfully shouting those words to the excited audience while doing what appeared to be dance moves. The audience went into fervour, cheering and shouting even more that Itachi wondered if anyone here would still have a sound hearing after everything was finished.

…

…

Itachi did not understand why, but he had shivers running down his spine, and for some reason, all the hair on his body stood up and a cold sweat ran down his face when he heard that voice. Never before he had such a feeling of impending doom from someone whom he never met before. It was strange, because he did not sense any hostility or malice from the girl. Yet, something about that girl seemed a bit nostalgic, it almost felt like he was experiencing a déjà vu.

As his eyes continued to be glued to the show, suddenly all the lights were turned on, blinding him and the audience in the process. Then, once the lights dimmed out, he finally able to see the girl who was dancing on the stage.

There was only one thing that Itachi could think of as he laid his sight upon the girl's appearance.

" _A magical girl…"_

True enough, the girl was wearing magical girl outfit. However, she was not the type of magical girl that looked like witches from medieval era. _This_ was the kind of magical girl that appeared in manga and anime, and was usually labelled as _mahou shoujo_.

Said mahou shoujo was a girl with long black hair tied fashioned into two ponytails, violet puppy-like eyes, beautiful child-like face that sported an energetic and innocent smile, and a body that was probably a head shorter than he was back in Elemental Nations, yet strangely enough she had large breasts despite that small body, which were swaying up and down as she was jumping around on the stage.

Also…was it normal to have stars in your words?

'BOING BOING'

"…"

'BOING BOING'

"…"

He swore he wasn't focusing his sight at those bouncing melons.

Itachi looked away from the girl on stage (and the melons too, of course), feeling his eyes strained under the intense stage lighting.

"Hai~! Everyone~! Thank you for your kind supports~!" the mahou shoujo shouted, winking at the audience. If surrounding her with cameras and taking photos of her doing poses on stage, while occasionally trying to take a sneak shot at her panty was considered a kind support, it made him wondered whether he was the odd one, or if these people were actually beyond help.

"Ehehe~, here you go~! Levia…TAN!" the girl shouted as she twirled twice on the air, and then ended it by pointing her _magical_ wand at the audience.

"WHHHHHHOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA~!" The crowd cheered, because of her level of moe and the chance to take a panty-shot. Some of the more weak-hearted members fainted because they couldn't take the level of moe that they saw, while the more hardcore ones turned ecstatic and almost went out of control.

There were two things that ran through Itachi's mind.

First, were these people really adult men?

Second, why weren't they embarrassed about their behaviours?

Itachi could only shake his head in disbelief as more men took out their cameras and tried to get the shots whenever the girl was jumping.

" _Hm?"_ Itachi felt someone's eyes on him. Tracing it quickly, Itachi noticed that the girl on stage was actually looking at him.

It must have been his imagination. Why would someone like her set her sight on someone like him, a complete stranger who didn't even have a drop of interest in her?

The girl twirled again, making a playful 'v' over her eye while still looking at his direction. Itachi could only stare at her flatly before deciding that he had enough of this nonsense. Unfortunately for him, the girl saw Itachi's sour expression, and the moment he left she interpreted this as a sign of failure on her part.

"… _What a waste of time,"_ Itachi thought. He was finally able to get out of the sea of fans behind him, and luckily, while it was a bit crumpled, his bag was not damage. He quickly walked away from the crowd, but suddenly the mahou shoujo on stage yelled over her microphone.

"Ah~! Wait~! Wait~! Where are you going~?! The boy in black~! Wait~!" the mahou shoujo childishly cried.

It wasn't him.

He wore black vest, but he was most certainly not this 'boy in black'.

In fact, there were probably a lot of boys in black amongst those fans.

As a matter of fact, he wore a white shirt as well.

Yes, it was most definitely not him that she was calling.

Itachi confidently dismissed the ridiculous thought that the mahou shoujo was calling out to him, and continued to walk away.

The mahou shoujo trembled, and then she jumped high onto the sky and landed right behind him.

"MOU~! I said, WAIT~!" the mahou shoujo yelled directly into Itachi's ears, all the while holding his shoulders to prevent him from walking away any further.

Itachi inadvertently let out a small sigh, and slowly turned to face the mahou shoujo. True enough, said girl looked really upset for being ignored by the boy in front of her.

"Ha~! Finally, you stop~. Hey, wait, what's with that face~?!" the girl whined, childishly flapping her arms like a little kid would do. It was because Itachi made his lack of interest at having to deal with her visible on his face.

"…What is it that you want?" Itachi asked. He really didn't want to have anything to do with her, and not to mention, he had a feeling that something bad would happen to him if he were to be involved with her in any shape or form.

Not to mention the scene behind her was more than enough to discourage any normal person from even speaking to her. Her fans, after all, looked more than eager to tie him on a cross and burn him for hogging the attention of their idol all for himself.

Looking at those glowing red eyes of petty jealousy that were raging behind the mahou shoujo made Itachi sweatdropped. He sweatdropped even more as said mahou shoujo was either didn't care or completely ignorant of her fans' boiling anger.

"Ah~! This won't do! Show a bit of enthusiasm in your voice, will you~? You sounded like So-tan just now!" the mahou shoujo protested, throwing her face to the side while cutely pouting.

….

…

….

"… _No reply?"_ the mahou shoujo thought curiously.

Because she had closed her eyes, she was not aware that Itachi had quickly and quietly made his escape. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and then her expression turned to one of pure shock as she couldn't see or even sense the boy's presence anywhere.

"Ah~! Where are you~?! Hey~! Did anyone see where he goes?" the mahou shoujo asked with teary eyes.

The adults, especially the men, instantly unite as one, and they pointed their fingers at a certain direction, as if to give a punishment to the male who dared upsetting such a cute girl.

"Thank you everyone~! I love you~!" the mahou shoujo declared with another wink, which caused most of the men to faint with hearts on their eyes.

She then ran, or rather, dashed with insane speed at the direction where Itachi was heading.

xxx

After running for almost half an hour, Itachi finally stopped. After running this far, he doubted anyone would actually be stupid enough to follow him, not that he left behind any trails to follow anyway.

Still, Itachi didn't know a place like this existed. Where he stood right now was an open area in a forest that surrounded a large lake. By the look of it, this place was most likely isolated from civilization, considering that there was not a soul there aside from him, and the grass and trees seemed untouched by human, or in this case devil hands. There were a lot of small animals and birds here, that was for sure, but that meant his theory about this place might be true.

This was a good thing for him…who really needed to calm the headache in his head without any interruption.

Itachi sat on the ground, huffing tiredly from using his chakra to enhance his legs. The lake was so crystal clear that he could see the fishes swimming in front of his eyes.

What a peaceful place.

Maybe he should bring Rias here next time. Perhaps he should invite Zeoticus and the others as well and together they could have an outing. It might not be so bad to spend some time with them in a place like this.

Itachi doubted the scene would be as serene as now, though, should Sirzechs and Zeoticus sat together in one place, especially if Rias were with them.

" _No, forget it."_ Itachi shook his head. He felt he was being a bit sentimental. It seemed some of their traits had rubbed off on him. Something like a family outing…there was no way he still had the right to enjoy something like that.

Itachi turned his gaze toward the sky, trying to push his emotions back deep inside.

Now that his mind was much clearer, somehow, however, it slowly turned back to the earlier commotion with the mahou shoujo.

" _…What a chaos. Had I stayed there a second longer, there's no doubt things would've become very troublesome,"_ Itachi thought. He did not mean to be disrespectful, however his intuition kept telling him to stay away from her. Now that he had thought about it calmly, she really reminded him of Sirzechs, especially when she said _'So-tan'._

Itachi had learned the hard way that getting to know someone like Sirzechs was like signing his own death warrant, except the execution was to deal with a moronic siscon, and that logic and reasons would not be enough to protect him. Sirzechs was a good man, he acknowledged that, but to say that it was good enough to cover for the crimson-haired Maou's behaviour was like saying a bowl of rice mixed with rotten eggs was delicious because there was rice in there.

Also…now that he was alone, Itachi finally remembered something crucial.

Itachi glanced at the bag beside him.

He had yet to buy other things in the list except for these panties. Because the store was quite far, he had thought buying these panties first would be most efficient. If only he knew there would be something like that near the store.

He was relieved, though; no terrible misfortune that could expose the contents of the bag to the world happened.

His moments of respite were brought to an end, however, when he sensed something approaching his location.

Itachi instantly stood up and looked around for a place to hide. He would have run away again if he could, but unfortunately his legs with his current physique had reached their limit to withstand another enhancement with chakra.

" _This presence… It's fast!"_ Itachi thought. He had yet to sense or see anyone moving as fast as this. Knowing that with a speed like this it would very soon arrive at his location, Itachi shifted tactic from looking for a hiding place to prepare for confrontation.

Itachi took a battle stance, and braced himself for whatever came. As it came ever closer, Itachi felt an enormous wave of power washed through him, like a tsunami was about to smash straight at him.

" _Here it comes…."_ And, with the sound of rustling wind, Itachi was finally able to see just what, or rather who it was who possessed this much power.

However, the face that Itachi saw was surely one that he did not expect to see.

"Ah! There you are~!" came the cheerful voice of a certain mahou shoujo.

…

….

…

Itachi could only stare at her with a blank face. He didn't expect her, of all people, to be able to move so fast, especially while wearing that kind of clothes. But, his mind then immediately asked a certain question.

How was she able to follow him?

"Mou~, you're so cruel, hiding in a place like this without leaving a trace behind," the mahou shoujo said while faking cry. Then, almost instantly, she twirled and put a peace sign on her head while sticking her tongue out. "Sucks for you, though, this Levia-tan have a special in-built 'So-tan detector' that can cover an entire country. It was only a matter of time to find your location~!"

"…"

Itachi simply stared at her silently, not knowing how to react to that.

The mahou shoujo raised her fist high to the sky and proudly declared, "After all, nothing is impossible for Magical Levia-tan~!"

"…"

Itachi definitely wouldn't argue against that claim, considering that she really was able to track him down despite his best effort to cover all his trails.

"Ah~! Your face says that 'you don't care'! Mu~, do you realize what kind of problem you've caused me~? I left my fans behind just to catch up with you, you know~! At least praise me for being able to find you~," the mahou shoujo whined, childishly swinging her hands around.

…

…

…

"…And?"

The mahou shoujo cocked her head to the right, staring at Itachi with puzzlement. "And what?"

"And what is it that you want from me? You've said it yourself that it's problematic for you to leave your fans behind, so what is it that is so important for you that you came all the way here to catch up to me?" Itachi calmly asked. He tried to put up a psychological attack on the girl with the hopes that she would leave him alone, but unknown to him, he would instead get the exact opposite reaction from her.

"…Mu…."

"Mu?"

"MUAAAAAAAAAAHHH~!" All of the sudden, the mahou shoujo leaped towards him with an unbelievable speed.

Itachi was barely able to dodge the girl's tackle, and as a result of that the mahou shoujo was rolling on the ground without being able to stop until she finally fell into the lake. Although he was sweatdropping at the scene the girl was making, and felt that it would be best to take this chance to leave, Itachi still went to her and helped her get out of the water.

Itachi grabbed her by the collar, and pulled her out with little difficulty.

"Fuha!" The girl was breathing heavily as she was lying down on the grass. "Ehehehe~, thanks. You're a kind one, aren't you? How about I give you a seat at the front row for my photo session?" the girl said, grinning widely at Itachi.

"Is this really the time to say su-."

"Waaaaaaaah!"

The mahou shoujo was attempting to stand, but her boots, covered with mud, caused her to slip backward. She attempted to grab on to something, but her hand grabbed on to Itachi's vest instead, pulling him down with her.

"…Um…this is…tee-hee~!"

As they were floating in the water, the girl stuck her tongue out while playfully hitting her head in response to Itachi's flat gaze.

"…"

"I'm sorry!"

Sighing, Itachi quickly made his way out of the water, but then turned around and offered his hand again to the mahou shoujo who was staring at him with apologetic eyes.

"Here. You'll catch a cold if you stay in there."

"O-okay."

Pulling the mahou shoujo out of the water once again, this time Itachi wanted to make sure that she would not stand anywhere near the lake. And by making sure, it meant…

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, it hurts, it hurts!"

Instead of letting her grabbed his hand, Itachi grabbed her by the collar and forcefully dragged her body on the ground to a spot far away from the shoreline.

The girl stood up immediately once Itachi had released her, and cupped Itachi's face with her hands while staring at him with teary eyes.

"You're actually angry, aren't you?!"

"No, but pulling you far away from the water seemed to be the most beneficial action for me, considering what happened last time," Itachi responded, causing the mahou shoujo to pout in anger.

"Gunununu… Ei! Take this!" The mahou shoujo began pouncing at Itachi, her fingers wriggling, tickling his side. "Take this! And this! And this, too!" The mahou shoujo relentlessly moved her fingers, trying her hardest to make Itachi suffer from laughter. "How's that? Have you le-." The mahou shoujo froze upon seeing a lack of reaction from Itachi.

"Get off," Itachi politely _asked._ The girl might not realise it, but she was sitting on his stomach, and she was not exactly the lightest person in the world, so his stomach had already felt numb.

"H-how?! No one, not even So-tan was able to hold herself from laughing, so how did you-."

"Get off," Itachi politely _asked_ once again.

"A-alri-HAPSYU!"

"…"

As the girl was about to get off of Itachi's stomach, the chill and pollens from nearby plants caused her to have an explosive sneeze…aimed directly at Itachi's face. Her mucus landed perfectly on Itachi's face, making his face even ' _wetter_ ' than before, much to his dismay.

Wiping her nose, the mahou shoujo noticed Itachi was staring at her, and she instinctively knew she was in trouble. There was no emotion behind those eyes, only that he was staring at her like she was some object that had to be removed from his sight.

"Ahahaha~, uh…" The mahou shoujo scratched her head, trying to find a way out of this when she saw what appeared to be a lodge in the distance. "L-look! There! How about we dry our clothes over there? Going home like this is a no-no! We don't want to get sick, right?" the mahou shoujo frantically suggested, pointing her finger at the rundown-looking two-storey house.

Itachi's eyes followed the direction her finger was pointing, and his eyes twitched ever so slightly.

There was no building there before. There wasn't even a single indication that someone had lived around this area.

" _Where did that house come from?"_ Itachi wondered. A house could not grow all of a sudden from the ground; someone must have a hand in building it.

Then why wasn't it visible before?

Was it hidden using some kind of magic?

Why was it hidden?

It wasn't like there was something really important in there, right?

And if it were hidden, why did it suddenly appear?

Itachi was trying to come up with an answer, but suddenly the mahou shoujo began carrying him on her shoulder.

"Well then! Let's go!"

Knowing that he couldn't possibly reason with her, especially since she had that fierce look in her eyes that was not unlike Sirzechs' whenever he thought up idiotic scheme, he resigned himself to whatever was waiting for him.

xxx

Well then, everyone, how are you?

Here's a question.

As a man, if you were in a room alone with a woman who happened to use the bathroom right now, what would you do?

Would you try to catch that brief glimpse of Heaven?

Would you sniff on the underwear and bra that were lying on the floor?

Would you take a picture of the silhouette of the girl and used it to enhance your 'imagination'?

Or…

"So…why am I in here as well?"

"Ehehe~, this way we can both save time and water~."

…would you desperately try to get out of the bathroom when the woman had forced you to take a bath with her?

Itachi had intended to leave while she was bathing so he could quickly go back to the castle, but then the girl pulled him in with her. After that, with a speed of light she undressed him and threw him into the bath.

And now, he was stuck in this situation.

In a bathtub, with a naked big-breasted girl who just happened to find a liking in hugging him from behind.

Again, lets repeat that.

He was in a bathtub. Hugging his legs. With a naked girl hugging him from behind.

And yes, he could feel _them and their softness_ on his back very clearly.

"…"

This had to be a nightmare.

At least, that's what Itachi was trying to convince himself. However, the soft things on his back kept telling him that it was real. He knew that he was already screwed anyway, so instead he decided to use this moment to press her for some answers.

"By the way, you haven't answered my question."

"Question? What question?" the girl asked as she scooped up the hot water, and then proceeded to pour it to his head. She did it again, and again, while giggling. Itachi only turned his face around partially, enough so that she could see his glare. The mahou shoujo instantly stopped what she was doing. "S-sorry."

Sighing, Itachi looked back at the wall made of woods in front of him, feeling it would be improper of him to look at a girl's naked body, even unintentionally.

"Ah…that one." The mahou shoujo tapped her finger on her lips, pondering on how to answer Itachi's question. "You see…you weren't smiling!"

"…Pardon?" Itachi almost couldn't believe his own ears. Did she really say she was chasing him simply because he didn't care about her shenanigans?

"You. Were. Not. Smiling," the mahou shoujo repeated slowly. "You see…whenever I performed on stage or have a photo shoot session with my fans, I've always got mixed reactions at first from people, especially onlookers. But then, by the end they would usually end up smiling and cheering for me as well," she proudly boasted, puffing her chest up.

Ignoring the soft sensation on his head, Itachi asked, "You like them that much? The attention, the cheering…is that why you dressed like that and made those ludicrous poses? Was me not reacting to your…performance wounded your pride, by any chance?" He realized he might have sounded a bit condescending, but it was simple curiosity that drove him to ask those questions.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! One question at a time, please~!" The mahou shoujo gripped her head, looking overwhelmed by the sudden stream of questions. "Alright, firstly, my poses are NOT ludicrous! They're cute and imaginative!" she proclaimed.

" _In your imagination,"_ Itachi silently commented.

"Secondly, I wear my costume because I like its cute design!"

"… _Right."_

"Thirdly, I like it when they're cheering for me, but only when my fans are having fun as well. If they're not having fun, then there must be something wrong, and I need to find out why so next time we can all laugh together," the mahou shoujo said with a beaming smile.

"…" Itachi raised an eyebrow. Her methods might be questionable, but it seemed her intentions were noble. If so, he might've had judged her too early.

"As for you…" Her fingers were wriggling around, before she began pinching Itachi's cheeks. "Hu-hun~, you're quite cocky, aren't you? My pride? Wounded? You're a hundred years too young to be able to even scratch my pride. "

Wanting to let her knew how it felt to be pinched; Itachi pinched her hands really hard, drawing a sharp cry from the mahou shoujo. "But you chased me because I didn't smile at your…tomfoolery. I don't know what that was if it wasn't a sign of a wounded pride," Itachi flatly commented.

"…"

Itachi slightly turned his head around, curious as to why she had yet to say a word considering her boisterous and hot-headed personality. It turned out to be a big mistake, however, as the girl suddenly grabbed his head and pulled it to her chest, causing half of his face to sink into her breasts.

"Ah~, you really ARE similar to her~. That know-it-all attitude, that cold eyes, that adorable haughtiness, it's like I'm staring at a male version of So-tan," the mahou shoujo giggled. "Hey, do you want to come live with me? I'll introduce you to So-tan, my little sister. I just knew you both would be besties. And if So-tan's away, we can do mahou shoujo 'training' together," she offered with a beaming smile. "Ah, but So-tan's mine so you can't hog her for yourself, or else I'm going to freeze you," the girl warned.

" _Why would I want to live with you?"_ Itachi silently questioned. He was already living with one hell of a family where almost all of its members managed to incur headache upon him on daily basis. To live with another that had a family member like this girl right here? He would rather stay with the former.

Hm? Wait a second.

"Come on~, it'll be fun. I guarantee it."

Pulling his face free from the mahou shoujo's grasp, Itachi looked at her straight in the eyes and gave her his answer. "I'd rather not. I've promised someone that I would always be by her side, and I have no plan to break that promise." The girl was about to cuddle him again, finding Itachi too adorable for giving such answer, but Itachi grabbed her face with a solid iron claw and stopped her movement. "On a side note, you weren't chasing me because I wasn't smiling at you, wasn't it? You chased me because I reminded you too much of this 'So-tan'. Considering the kind of person you are, I take it you haven't been able to meet 'So-tan' for a while because of something, duty perhaps, and the moment you saw how I acted, you couldn't hold back your desire to pamper 'So-tan' any longer," Itachi stated out loud. "Am I wrong?"

….

…

…

The mahou shoujo turned her face to the side and whistled.

"…"

Itachi stared at her flatly. Her silence confirmed everything, but somehow, instead of getting a sense of achievement from being right, Itachi only felt migraine in his head.

"In all my life…there is only one person I know who might be able to match you in sheer absurdity and unpredictability when it comes to being a siscon," Itachi complimented with a tired voice.

"Booooo~! What do you mean absurd? Just to let you know, even an entire world wouldn't be enough to contain my love for So-tan!" the mahou shoujo boasted.

" _Exactly like that man, indeed,"_ Itachi thought. Now he understood why sometimes Sirzechs' face came up when he looked at this girl. They both acted stupid when it came to their little sisters. Or maybe they were just plain stupid to begin with. "I'm not sure whether I should admire you or stay away from you. I pity 'So-tan' if she had to deal with you everyday."

"Ei! Take this! Levia-tan Lovely Miracle Attack!" The mahou shoujo shouted a ridiculous sounding name as her hand shot out towards Itachi's cheeks and began stretching them. "How's that? Take back what you've said and I might rele-AAAAAAAAHHH!"

In response to her attack, Itachi's own hand moved to her face and pinched her nose really hard.

"AUUUUUUUU~, let go!"

"Hou wet ho hirst (you let go first)," Itachi demanded, increasing the strength behind his fingers.

The girl stretched his cheek even further, and at the same time, Itachi pinched her nose even harder.

The banter between the two continued for several minutes until they finally released each other due to exhaustion.

"Huff..huff…." the girl was breathing heavily as she could finally taste the air once again.

"…Hah…" Itachi sighed, rubbing his cheek to check if there were any permanent injuries. It actually felt painful to have his cheeks stretched out like that.

The girl kept panting for a while, but then she tightly hugged him again. At first, he thought she was still angry with him, but she, instead, was just rubbing her cheek with his.

"Muuuuu~!"

"…."

Itachi had nothing to say about this, but then she began sniffing his hair.

"Ah…you're truly just like So-tan…" the mahou shoujo muttered. Her voice made her sounded almost like she was in a daze, causing a bead of cold sweat to run down Itachi's neck.

"Will you stop? I'm feeling uncomfortable here," Itachi said, but the girl ignored his plea.

"Ah…So-tan, I love you… chuu~, chuu~," the mahou shoujo declared while kissing Itachi's hair.

It was a reflex, nothing more, nothing less. Itachi's reflex would automatically kick in should his instinct feel that he was in danger, and said reflex made him clenched his right hand into a fist, and delivered a solid uppercut to the girl's chin to stop her from doing anything more than this to him.

"Ow!" The girl's body flew backward before she sank into the tub's hot water. Fortunately for Itachi, seconds later her body began floating and her chest was contracting, telling him that she was still breathing.

Itachi turned around, not wishing to see a woman's body in their full glory, before quickly getting out of the bathtub and covered his lower part with a towel. The sound of water splashing caused him to turn his sight back on to the bathtub, and over there was the mahou shoujo, her hand reaching out to him with tears in her eyes and a red bump on her chin.

"Uuuuu~, So-tan-man~," the girl cried as she was trying futilely to reach for him from inside the bathtub.

"Who are you calling 'So-tan-man'?" Itachi asked, sweatdropping.

"You."

"…"

"So-tan~, I want to see you... Please, let me hug you again, at least until this loneliness of mine is gone~," the girl pleaded, though she looked ready to jump at him at any moment even if he refused her.

Itachi stared passively at the woman, and then for the first time since he met the mahou shoujo, he couldn't help but to let out a small smile.

"…Heh…"

"Aaaaaaahhh~!" the girl screamed. She stood up so abruptly that Itachi wasn't able to look away in time, allowing him to see the girl in her full birthday suit.

"Is there something wrong?" Itachi asked.

"You just smiled," she pointed out with a smile, not that Itachi could see her expression since he had turned his back to her. Suddenly, a light bulb appeared on her head, and she began glaring at him. "Ah! Were you actually laughing at my proclamation of love for So-tan?"

"No. I was just reminded of something. Something that happened a long time ago," Itachi answered. The mahou shoujo could not see it since his back was facing her, but there was a somewhat sorrowful look in his usual calm face that might cause the girl to cuddle him again should she witness it.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Then, let me check it~."

"Check it ho-." Itachi froze as the mahou shoujo suddenly appeared in front of him. The issue was no longer the view of her body in all its naked glory, but simply the fact that she was able to move from one spot to another without him being able to follow her movement. _"Was it teleportation magic? But there was no magic circle, so how?"_

Noticing that he had become silent, the girl asked, "Hn? What's wrong? Ooh, don't tell me, are you surprised by how fast I am? Hehe~, moving this fast is nothing for Magical Levia-tan~," the girl proudly bragged.

" _Pure speed? This woman…"_ If Itachi were not suspicious of the girl's identity before, he surely was now. There was nothing in his life before whose movements his eyes couldn't see. Yet, this girl had managed to elude his eyes. Now that he thought about it, she did showcase an impressive speed before, but he had thought that was the extent of it. Who would have thought that this girl who was wearing nothing was capable of such feat?

Wait, wearing nothing?

Itachi instantly closed his eyes.

"What's wrong? Why are you closing your eyes?" the mahou shoujo asked, completely unaware that the reason why Itachi had closed his eyes was because of her.

"…I have an advice for you. Go back into the tub, or wear a towel. I can see your bare body," Itachi advised. He wasn't flustered or embarrassed in the slightest. Nor did he feel the surge of male hormone on _that_ part of the body. He simply wanted the girl to be aware that she was standing without wearing a single piece of clothing in front of a male.

Blinking, the girl then giggled and simply brought his head to her chest, again.

"Awww~, you're so cute! Don't worry, this Onee-chan doesn't mind you seeing her naked. I could see you getting embarrassed, after all~," the girl cheerfully said.

By now, it had become official; there must be something wrong with her perception of reality. Also, why did she start referring to herself as 'Onee-chan'? She wasn't going to start calling him her little brother like a certain man, was she?

"That's not…"

"But~, Onee-chan would be mad if you were actually laughing at my love for So-tan~. As a punishment, I might do _this_ to you~," the mahou shoujo said.

Itachi could feel the room's temperature dropped significantly in an instant. He peeked from…her breasts, and his eyes widened when he saw the entire bathroom had been frozen.

"This…" Itachi forced himself off the girl, and looked around at the frozen bathroom with awe. Itachi went to check the water, and the now frozen hot water had completely stopped flowing all together.

"How's that~? Onee-chan's amazing, right?" the girl asked, puffing her chest in satisfaction at Itachi's reaction. Itachi activated his Sharingan and secretly took a peek at her. He was utterly surprised to see so much power flowing inside her. It was greater than Grayfia's power, although it was clearly still inferior to Sirzechs'.

But…

"I'm going out now," Itachi said, forcefully kicking open the frozen door. Without looking back at the mahou shoujo who seemed like she still wanted to spend more time in the bathtub, Itachi told her, "If you can handle dipping into a freezing water in a frozen room, then by all means, enjoy yourself."

Blinking again, she finally realized what she had done to the bathroom and, with a slightly dejected expression, followed him out.

Checking that their clothes had dried up enough, they began dressing up when Itachi suddenly brought up something that had been bugging his mind.

"Don't you think it's strange?" Itachi suddenly asked, much to the mahou shoujo's confusion. "This house, I mean. It looks to be abandoned, and yet everything works perfectly fine. The lights, the electricity, the water, and even the condition of the house look much better than how it initially appeared. And I'm sure you've noticed it as well, but just in case, this house didn't exist when I arrived near that lake," Itachi said, pointing at the lake outside the room window.

"I think it's the work of the spirits that are haunting this place."

"Spirits?" Itachi didn't expect to hear that, although, considering that devils existed, then it shouldn't be strange to see spirits roaming freely in this world.

"Yes. When we entered the house they came out in droves and began attacking me. You didn't notice them because they seemed to ignore you for some reason, but they were reeeaaaaally angry. It's a bit weird since spirits are usually pretty docile, unless we've somehow aggravated them. Also, this house is like a hub for spirits so their numbers weren't exactly small. They're attracted to this house like moths attracted to light," the mahou shoujo explained.

"So, what now? Should I expect them to suddenly come out and start attacking us?"

"No worries, I've banished them all without breaking a sweat," the girl said triumphantly. "Some of them are bounded to this place, though, so they will definitely come back."

"…"

That still didn't explain why this house had appeared in front of them. Based on what the mahou shoujo had told him, Itachi assumed that spirits could only be sensed or seen by people they perceived to have trespassed into their domains. But then, why made this house visible in the first place if they didn't want people to come into their domains? Then, there was the fact that he could not see or sense them. Did this mean those spirits didn't identify him as an intruder for some reason? Or, was there perhaps something else at work?

And more importantly…

As Itachi put on his shirt, he turned around slightly to ensure that the mahou shoujo wouldn't be able to look at his eyes before activating his Sharingan. On the walls, there were images drawn using some kind of power that he was not familiar with. It was too fluid to be magic, but it was too smooth to be chakra. He could investigate what manner of power was used to draw these images later, as the images themselves were more important than the tool.

The images were that of circles in the centre of the infinity symbol. Itachi did not know what it meant, but he felt the circles looked a bit similar to Rinnegan, the eyes that his former boss possessed. But Rinnegan didn't exist in this world, so what did it stand for?

"Uuu…" Itachi instantly deactivated his Sharingan and looked at the source of that noise. The mahou shoujo had dressed up, but for some reason she brought her knees together and looked a tad uncomfortable. "Hey, what should I do? My panty is still wet~," the girl cried.

"…" Itachi had nothing to say to that. He then casted his gaze downward to her skirt. That miniskirt she was wearing, there was no way it could hide anything. Someone who chose to wear that kind of miniskirt was either had known that the underwear would be visible should she move, or was completely ignorant of that fact.

But the problem now was, if she didn't wear underwear, and wind suddenly blew, her secret garden would be exposed to the world.

However…

Itachi looked at the paper bag on the table. In that bag, there was something that could solve this problem. However, lending her one of those would mean letting her know that he had been carrying a bag full of women's underwear.

There were two options in front of him.

(1). Let her go without her underwear, and ignore what might happen to her.

(2). Sacrifice his reputation to protect her honour and dignity.

Itachi looked at the view outside the window, and he realized that he had no more time to waste since the sun had moved past its highest point. He had to go back to the castle immediately and then rendezvous with Sirzechs. He couldn't possibly stay with the girl until all her panty had dried, but if he left her alone, he got a feeling that she was going to throw her underwear away and went commando.

And thus, throwing away his reputation as a man, Itachi ripped the bag open, and then presented her with a pink panty.

"Here. Please wear this."

"…" The girl looked at the piece of underwear on his hands silently. Then, she said, "So, you like frilly panties, huh?"

"Absolutely not," Itachi denied wholeheartedly.

"But, this…"

"Please, just accept it," Itachi pleaded.

"…O-okay." The girl nervously took the underwear from Itachi after seeing how he looked like he was already losing his patience.

"At the very least, this way you could go back to your little sister with your dignity intact," Itachi whispered, even though he felt he had just lost something important as a person and a man. Itachi picked up the paper bag, and began walking toward the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" the mahou shoujo asked.

"Home," Itachi answered instantly.

"Don't go yet, you haven't given me your name." Itachi looked at the girl, and though he doubted he was going to meet her again, it was simply a matter of courtesy that he should tell her his name.

"It's…Itachi. My name is Itachi."

"Ah~! Then, It-tan it is~," the mahou shoujo cheerfully said.

…

…

"What?"

"It-tan. Because your name is Itachi, so I'll call you It-tan," the mahou shoujo explained.

"No."

"Eh~? Why~?" the girl whined, looking very disappointed.

"Just…no…"

"Then~, how about It-chan~?" she suggested.

"No."

"It-chi."

"No."

"Ita-chin."

"No."

"Muuuuu~! Well then…how about…Chi-chan~?!" For some strange reason, Itachi had the urge to say copyright for that nickname, but shoved it away in favour of his answer.

"No."

"Mouuu~! Then what should I call you?!" the girl cried, clearly frustrated at Itachi's stubbornness.

"Just…Itachi…"

"Muuuu~. Well then, Itachi-chan…" the mahou shoujo grumbled.

Itachi sighed. He felt tired dealing with this girl, and not to mention the fact that Grayfia would chew him fro being late, his head started to feel painful. "It's been…'an extraordinary' encounter, but unfortunately, I have something urgent that needs to be done. It's a pleasure to speak with you…" Itachi then realized that he did not know the name of the girl. Luckily, she introduced herself without him needing to ask.

"I'm Serafall, but you can call me Sera-chan~," the girl, now known as Serafall, chirped.

"Well then, Serafall-san, may we meet again one day. And at that time, I hope you will introduce your sister to me." Itachi began to walk away, but not before hearing her last words.

"Muuu~, I said you can call me Sera-chan."

A small smile formed on Itachi's lips, but it was soon replaced with frown as he tried to remember where he had heard that name.

" _That name… Serafall….where have I heard it….."_

Oh...he didn't realize who the person that he met just now was.

xxx

 **[Sirzechs' castle]**

It was already evening.

It was already evening, but Itachi had finally arrived in Sirzechs' place.

After he had reached Gremory castle, Itachi realized that he had completely forgotten about the other goods on the list. He immediately headed back to the market to get all the things that he forgot to buy, and then ran back to Gremory castle as fast as he could. He apologized wholeheartedly to the servants for the lateness, though none of them seemed to mind it.

However, one person did mind it.

Grayfia stood behind him when he was apologizing, and then she forced him to do a dogeza on the floor. When she asked why he was late, all Itachi could say was _'there was a magical girl who kept pestering me'_ and began explaining what had transpired. Itachi knew how absurd it sounded, and there was little chance that she would even believe a word that came out of his mouth.

On the contrary, however, Grayfia said, "Ah, I understand now," with a voice that was neither mocking nor sarcastic. Itachi sweatdropped at how easy she accepted his story. It was almost as if she had personally met that mahou shoujo.

And thus, Itachi was now standing in front of the door to Sirzechs' living room without even bothering to hide his weariness.

Slowly he opened the door, and what greeted him there was…

"Ahahahahaha~."

…the scene of Sirzechs playing with his newborn child while being surrounded by flowers that were floating all over the room.

"…"

Itachi could not determine whether those flowers were illusion or not. The reason was, the source of the flowers was none other than Sirzechs himself, as they were literally coming out of his body, yet none of them felt real at the same time. However, Itachi had decided a long time ago to not dwell too much in most things where Sirzechs was involved, because he had learned that it would only give him headaches should he try to decipher the unfathomable, especially if it was coming from certain people like the crimson-haired Maou.

"Sirzechs-san, it seems you're having fun."

"Oh~, Itachi-kun~, welcome. How's your day?" Sirzechs asked.

"It's...fine. Please forgive me for coming late. I was…delayed by some unexpected problems on the way here," Itachi apologised, shamefully bowing his head slightly

"It's not a problem at all~! In fact, I'm happy that you're late~. I could spend more time playing with Millicas, because of that~," Sirzechs admitted with a very happy expression. "Besides, Ajuka has not arrived yet, as well, so it's all good."

Itachi stared passively at the scene in front of him before letting a small smile graced his lips as he remembered the expression in Grayfia's face, one that Sirzechs had as well.

" _Parents' love, huh?"_ Itachi thought back to the time when he was still living peacefully with his family, and the moment when he was about to strike down his parents.

While Itachi was content with just watching the scene in front of him, he needed to ask a question regarding the reason for him being summoned.

"Sirzechs-san…what is your reason for summoning me?"

"Ahahahahaha~."

"…." Itachi sweatdropped. It seemed the red-haired man had gone to a faraway 'ahahaha~' land with his son. Not to mention, the scenery around them was no longer solely comprised of floating flowers, as there were butterflies flying around as well.

Fortunately, a force that pushed Sirzechs back to the Underworld came, in the form of Grayfia, who took Millicas away from him. Sirzechs lied still on the floor, blood was coming out of his eyes as foams were forming in his mouth, and his complexion was getting paler and paler. Itachi had never seen someone being in a critical condition as a result of having his baby taken from him. He didn't even think it was possible for such thing to happen. But then again, if there were someone who could turn absurdity into reality, it would be this dead Maou over here.

"Well, well, you sure are one happy Maou." A voice boomed out of nowhere. Whoever the owner of that voice was, it was enough to snap Sirzechs back to life. The next moment, a magic circle appeared in the middle of the room, and a handsome devil appeared from it. This man looked to be around the same age as Sirzechs, possessing light blue eyes and green hair that was slicked back. There was something about this man, this devil, that managed to put Itachi on edge.

"Oh…Ajuka, welcome," Sirzechs weakly greeted.

"You asked me to come here, when I'm occupied with something else, because you wanted me to check on something, and this is how you welcome me?" Ajuka questioned with a raised brow.

"That's because…"

"Don't say it, I don't even want to know about it," Ajuka interrupted. Sirzechs sank once again into the floor, causing Itachi to shake his head in resignation. Ajuka turned his sight to Itachi, and from the way his eyes were looking, Itachi knew he was currently being appraised by him.

"It's him, isn't it?" Rather than a question, it sounded more like a statement to Itachi. Sirzechs, who almost became one with the floor, stood up, and for once there was no nonsense in his expression.

"Yes, he is the one," Sirzechs replied. Itachi had no idea what they were talking about, and looking at the confusion in Itachi's eyes, Sirzechs decided to fill the blank for him. "Itachi-kun, do you remember last year, when we tried to make you one of my peerage members using the 'Pawn' pieces?" Sirzechs asked.

"I do."

"Well, this man here is a Maou, and the creator of the Evil Piece system, Ajuka Beelzebub," Sirzechs pointed, introducing Ajuka with a somewhat half-hearted voice. Ajuka smacked Sirzechs' arm that was pointing a finger at him, and then gave a playful smirk to the now angry Sirzechs.

Ignoring the death glare Sirzechs was sending to him, Ajuka moved closer to Itachi and put a hand to his head. "Nice to finally meet the one who managed to destroy my creation. Seems like Sirzechs is quite fond of you, if what I've been hearing is correct," Ajuka said.

"…." Itachi grabbed Ajuka's wrist, stopping the green-haired Maou from ruffling his hair. "Please, stop. If you have some business with me, then please state it without treating me like a little boy," Itachi stated. As a child, he might appreciate being treated and pampered like a normal child, but now, while his body was that of a child, his mind and soul were that of an adult in his twenties and he'd rather be treated as an adult if possible.

"Sure, if that's what you want. As for my business with you, we've decided to do a check-up on your body to see if we could find the reasons why the Evil Pieces got pushed out from your body," Ajuka explained. Itachi nodded, grateful that Ajuka had agreed to his request.

Perhaps this man wasn't so bad, after all? Itachi had been worried that since Ajuka was a fellow Maou like Sirzechs and seemed to be a close friend of his, he might have a few loose screws in his head, as well. Itachi thought he could be at ease in front of Ajuka when he saw what appeared to be a mixture of intrigue and excitement in Ajuka's eyes. In some respect, the looked that he was giving him was similar to how Orochimaru had when he tried to take over his body, except Ajuka's eyes lacked the hunger and evil that were present in Orochimaru.

Itachi couldn't let his guard down, after all. Ajuka's eyes were like that of a child who just found a new toy to play with.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Itachi asked Sirzechs, attempting to divert Ajuka's attention away from him.

Sirzechs was sweating bullet for some reason. Was the question that hard to answer? Gulping down his spit, the crimson-haired Maou admitted, "It's because…I forgot."

…

…

"…You forgot…." Itachi repeated to make sure he wasn't actually hearing things.

"Yes, I forgot," Sirzechs confirmed.

….

…

"….Grayfia-san?" Itachi turned his eyes toward the woman who had been silently standing in the background. Grayfia cough with a shade of red on her face, and then she explained the reason to him with a very brief summary.

"Child, happy, celebrations, too excited, forgot about everything else," Grayfia said.

"…." Itachi got the full message. Looking at Sirzechs whistling while looking away from him really reminded Itachi of the mahou shoujo that he encountered earlier in the day.

The message was basically read like this.

Sirzechs was happy that he had his first child. He became very happy to the point that he made celebration for it. However, he got too excited about this that he made celebrations after celebrations, and he literally forgot about everything else until recently.

Grayfia was staring at the floor, hiding her face behind her bangs, looking like she was trying to hide her embarrassment. Itachi sweatdropped, realising that somehow Sirzechs was able to pull her to join him in his _'excessive'_ parties.

Itachi let out a small sigh while Ajuka was trying his best to hold back his chuckle.

"Really, you lovey-dovey couple who have their love life turned into a play are truly meant for each other," Ajuka teased.

" _Their love life turned into a play?"_ Itachi thought flatly. He thought it was a joke, however, the expression on Grayfia's face was enough for Itachi to confirm that Ajuka was indeed telling the truth.

"N-now, now, we shouldn't delay it any longer. It's better to start as soon as possible right~?" Sirzechs suggested in an attempt to steer the conversation back to Itachi's problems, while Grayfia quickly scrambled out of the room with Millicas.

"Let's do it right away, then," Ajuka said.

"Here? What about the equipment and tools?" Itachi asked.

"Don't worry, as long as there's a scalpel or a knife, dissection could be done practically anywhere, you know." The green-haired Maou had just stated something troubling with such an easy-going attitude that Itachi did not know whether to take his words seriously or not.

"What are you trying to say?" Itachi asked. He'd rather not jump to conclusion, but that was why he needed a clear explanation from the green-haired man.

Ajuka put his hands on Itachi's shoulders, gripping them tightly as his eyes started sparkling with excitement. "I'll be blunt. Let me dissect you."

"…What?"

"Let. Me. Dissect. You," Ajuka said slowly, and with emphasis on each word to make sure Itachi understood that he was being serious.

"…."

"Ajuka! I won't let you harm my younger brother!" Sirzechs declared, stepping between Ajuka and Itachi.

"Oh~, so he is your younger brother now? I thought you said that he is your rival?" Ajuka smirked, taking delight in seeing the crimson-haired Maou's irritation.

" _Rival? Rival in what?"_ Itachi wondered. Rivalry was a fine thing for both character and skills development as long as it didn't turn into outright hatred, but Itachi didn't know what kind of rivalry he was in with the crimson-haired Maou, nor he wanted to be in one.

"That's that, this is this! When he is not my rival for Ria-tan's affection, he is my younger brother!" Sirzechs declared.

Itachi had to endure the urge to facepalm. He should have expected this type of answer from Sirzechs. Why would Sirzechs even make such a thing into a rivalry? No matter how he looked at it, it felt like a waste of time to compete for Rias' affection, since Sirzechs was her biological older brother and was much closer to her than him.

"Just give it up, Sirzechs. The fastest way to know what's wrong with someone's body is through dissection," Ajuka pressed.

"For what reason do you want to dissect me? If it's just a check-up, then you don't have to go through the trouble of dissecting me. And, if you found nothing in me after you dissect me…it'll be just a waste of your time and effort," Itachi said, hoping Ajuka would change his mind.

"For science of course," Ajuka replied, causing Itachi to sweatdrop at his response. "But really, you shouldn't say there's _nothing_ in you. After all, if there were _nothing_ , then how could the Evil Pieces – _Sirzechs_ ' Evil Pieces – that I created hundreds of years ago be pushed out of your body? How did it crumble to dust in the first place when it was mostly made of magic? Honestly, your case is the very first time that something like this has ever happened," Ajuka proclaimed.

Itachi did not know how to reply to that, since what Ajuka said was the truth. In fact, there was indeed something inside him that he could not understand its nature, something that was alien to him.

"Just kidding," Ajuka suddenly said, shrugging his shoulders with a satisfied look on his face.

"…"

"…"

"I'm not really a research type of person, I prefer to create something instead of discovering something."

"….."

"…."

"Besides, dissection is a barbaric thing. We're on an era where we have X-rays and simulations for research, you know?"

"…"

"….."

"But seriously, I never thought you two would take my words very seriously. You guys should look at a mirror, your expressions are priceless," Ajuka laughed, causing a vein to pop up on Sirzechs' head.

"…."

"Then…Ajuka-kun? Why did you say those things?" Sirzechs slowly asked.

"To troll you guys, of course. Why else would I say those stuff?" Ajuka sarcastically asked, ridiculing Sirzechs for not knowing the answer to his own question.

The next thing that happened was a scene of carnage straight out of action/adventure/fantasy/horror movies, as the two adults proceeded to fight each other. It was safe to say that the room became a mess was a severe understatement, for there was nothing left in that room after the fight safe for the chair where the only spectator sat.

Throughout the skirmish, the spectator watched the battle unfolds in front of him, with his Sharingan activated for safety reasons, with severe headache assaulting his head.

xxx

"Well then, shall we begin?" Ajuka asked. Itachi nodded, giving the green-haired Maou his permission to proceed.

Itachi was floating in a glass sphere that was apparently created by Ajuka mainly to discover the make up of supernatural entities. Ajuka claimed that this sphere was able to calculate every disturbance, phenomenon, and abnormality that was presence inside magical beings like devils and angels, and that its computing capabilities surpassed everything mortals and gods had ever created.

Itachi didn't know whether he should take Ajuka's words with a grain of salt or not. Had he been able to detect even the smallest amount of pride in his voice, Itachi might have doubted the green-haired Maou's claim, but when said person uttered those words like how one commented on the weather, then perhaps Ajuka was not merely boasting.

The sphere began to rotate while emitting a faint yellowish glow. Slowly, Itachi felt his eyelids becoming heavier, and then he entered a deep slumber while his body continued to float gently in the sphere.

"Now then, all we need to do is wait for the results. Sirzechs, I want a tea," Ajuka said to the unidentified person who was lying on the floor, dying.

"Ga…heit…aiet…hoeusef (translation: Go get it yourself)," was the kind of garbling that came out of Sirzechs' mouth.

Sirzechs' face was swollen to the point that it looked like a horror version of a giant meatball. It was the result of Grayfia's punishment as she was outraged by their antic, which resulted in the obliteration of the living room. Although Ajuka was also at fault, it was Sirzechs who started the fight. Not to mention, it was Sirzechs' Power of Destruction that caused most of the destruction.

As a side note, Ajuka and Itachi had questioned how was it possible for Sirzechs to be alive after receiving such a brutal punishment.

"Now, now, the house owner should treat the guest to the best of their ability, right? And besides, I can't leave this sphere alone, in case something happen," Ajuka stated.

"Gr…."

"Don't say I should ask Grayfia for it. She almost gave me the same fate as you, remember?" Ajuka reminded with a flat face. The green-haired Maou knew better than to incite the wrath of the silver-haired maid, and should he meet her again right now, he doubted he would be able to see the next sunrise.

"…"

"Oh, well. If you wouldn't let me have a tea, then I guess I'll take it as my punishment then," Ajuka said, shrugging off the glare that Sirzechs was giving him.

The sphere continued to rotate, and minutes turned into hour. After an hour and a half, the sphere's rotation slowed down, and the glow slowly disappeared.

Several screens appeared in front of Ajuka, each one displayed different information about Itachi's body. Ajuka read through the result, but soon his face contorted into one of confusion, and then it turned into shock.

Sirzechs raised a brow, or at least it looked like he was raising a brow, as he had never seen his friend looking this shock before.

"Sirzechs, leave the boy with Grayfia. I don't think you'd want anyone else to see this," Ajuka said.

xxx

After Grayfia had taken Itachi back to Gremory castle, Sirzechs led Ajuka to a more secluded section of his castle, as Ajuka had requested to prevent eavesdroppers from listening to their conversations.

"So, tell me. What did you find? Sirzechs asked, curious to know what could possibly cause Ajuka to look unusually serious.

Sitting down on a chair, Ajuka took a deep breath; his mind carefully composed his sentences so it would not come out as a madman's rumbling. "Sirzechs, first thing first, that child is no human. Not completely, anyway."

"As I suspected," Sirzechs muttered. The crimson-haired Maou had already suspicious of the true nature of Itachi ever since he withstood Rias' strength, and his survival with the amount of injuries he sustained a year ago. But something that Ajuka said made "Wait, what do you mean 'not completely'? What is he, then? Is he a half-breed?"

"…That came out wrong," Ajuka said, more to himself than to Sirzechs. "Sirzechs, there are a couple of anomalies about him, but let me make this clear first. That boy is a human. As of right now, his body is undoubtedly that of a human. The thing is, though, his body is slowly, and surely, changing. No, maybe it's more accurate to call it a transformation. I'll use a comparison to butterfly to make explaining a bit simpler for both of us. Simply speaking, that body of his, that unquestionably human body of his, is the equivalent of the larva stage of a butterfly."

"I don't think I follow you," Sirzechs slowly said, his expression looked completely baffled.

"Well, let me finish first, then you can stop following me after that," Ajuka sarcastically replied. "Anyway, here." Ajuka swiped his hand on the air, and a large screen in front of them, playing a record of. "Look at that. What does that look like?" Ajuka pointed at a layout of Itachi's body, with red stream flowing inside it.

"That…is that mana?"

" _Dragon's_ mana _,_ to be exact," Ajuka added. Sirzechs stared at the green-haired Maou like he had just said a farfetched thing, but Ajuka ignored Sirzechs' gaze and continued his explanation. "You know what mana is, right? It's the source of our magic, originated and linked to our life energy. For that reason, mana that is radically different could be dangerous for the body. A devil's mana is a miasma to human's body, similar to how an angel's mana is deadly to us, and injecting dragon's mana into a human body is like putting tons of active bombs in a fragile container, and hoping it wouldn't suddenly explode. And yet…" Ajuka enlarged the screen, and more detailed images of Itachi appeared.

Sirzechs eyes widened, he could hardly believe what he saw. "T-that's!"

"First anomaly. Sirzechs, I'll throw your question back at you. What is he? His body suggests he's a human, but his body is able to cope with a massive volume of dragon's mana without taking any strain whatsoever. No human, no devil, no angel, was able to do so. The closest comparison would be Siegfried, who was bathed in Fafnir's blood and came to possess mana similar in nature to that dragon as a result. But, the reason Siegfried was able to withstand Fafnir's mana, is because he was a descendant of Odin. He had divine quality in his blood to negate such effects, and turned that power into a weapon."

"…"

"Second anomaly, and this is related to the things I've told you just now. The mana, instead of killing him, is transforming him into a dragon," Ajuka stated.

"Itachi-kun will become a dragon?" Sirzechs asked, his voice quivering and the calm mask he was wearing was slowly crumbling away. He was unable to hide his concern for the boy's future any longer, something that Ajuka noted to be a sign that Sirzechs might do something reckless if he didn't give him a warning.

"Unfortunately, yes. His body is adapting to the mana, but, as a result, it instead will transform him into a dragon. The good news is that his body is now so compatible with it that the transformation process should be stable and gradual. He won't suffer any pains, or suddenly finds himself as a dragon the next day. But, this brings us the third anomaly." The screen zoomed in, and Sirzechs was able to see Itachi's cells. "I'm not a biologist, but I'm pretty sure everything with flesh and red blood flowing in them, like you and me, shouldn't have plant cells in its body. Perhaps, it's a factor that allows him to adapt to a dragon's mana, but…what do you think, Sirzechs? Have you heard anything like this?"

Sirzechs' eyes narrowed slightly at what he heard, and he clenched his fists so tightly it could start bleeding had he done it even a bit harder. _"Itachi-kun, so, you really are…"_

"Sirzechs?" Ajuka was expecting Sirzechs to look at least a bit surprised, but instead, the crimson-haired Maou had a grim look on his face.

Noticing that Ajuka was now scrutinising him, Sirzechs hurriedly put a goofy face and laughed. "A-ahaha, it's strange, isn't it? I've never seen something like this, too. You think he'll produce vegetables next?" Sirzechs asked, trying to incite some laughter in Ajuka.

" _You suck at lying, Sirzechs. But, no matter, you'll speak if you want me to know,"_ Ajuka thought. "Is that so? Oh well, I can research about it later. Also, I have one advice for you."

"Advice?"

"You need to train that boy, both his physique and magic. He needs to be able to control the flow of the dragon's mana to make sure that it would not clash with his own life energy. You need to make sure he's sturdy, as well. I said the process would be gradual, but that was just a hypothesis. I've never seen anything like this before, so in case something happens…he might need to endure a painful experience," Ajuka warned. "I'll try making something to further stabilize his mana, but it will take time. In the meantime, it'd be best for you, and him, to listen to my advice."

"Understood," Sirzechs nodded. Knowing Ajuka, Sirzechs knew it would be better to follow the green-haired man's advice rather than regretting it later.

"That's all. I'll be seeing you soon if there's a new discovery," Ajuka notified, before a magic circle appeared beneath his feet, taking him back to his own palace.

…

…

…

"That Ajuka… He should've stayed for dinner," Sirzechs sighed with a wry smile.

xxx

As Ajuka arrived in his palace, he took out the results of the reading once again.

"…I can't let Sirzechs see this…"

Earlier, Ajuka had isolated certain parts of the finding, not because he didn't want Sirzechs to see it, but because it gave him such a bad feeling that it might be better for him to research it first before informing Sirzechs.

"Just what is this thing?" Ajuka pondered curiously, not realising that a bead of cold sweat was running down his face.

xxx

 **[Gremory castle – Rias room]**

" _This place is…Rias' room? I see… Sirzechs-san must've taken me home."_

That was the only thing that ran through Itachi's mind after he regained his consciousness. Slowly, he turned his eyes to the windows, slightly curious about the time.

It was already night. Judging by the darkness outside and the position of the moon, he deduced the time had already reached midnight.

Turning on the bed light on the desk near him, Itachi was greeted with a sight of Rias sleeping, with her head using his stomach as pillow.

"Mmm~, Itachi~…"

Itachi finally knew what, or rather who was pressing on his stomach. He sighed, and relaxed his body to give Rias a more comfortable sleep. He wanted to move her head from his stomach, but he didn't have the heart to wake her up, considering the time and how she looked really comfortable right now.

"Mmmnyaaaa…." Rias was squirming because of the light.

Not good.

Carefully, Itachi turned off the light. Almost immediately, Rias stopped squirming. Itachi stared pasively at Rias' face for a moment, before his stoic expression broke into a faint smile. He placed a hand on Rias' head, and began caressing her.

"Sleep well, Rias."

xxx

 **[Sitri castle]**

In one of the room of the Sitri castle, which belonged to Sitri clan, one of the seventy-two noble devil clans in the Underworld, there was one person who was still awake in the middle of the night. This person was a bespectacled young girl with short, black hair, who was currently reading through several books with such intense focus that, instead of reading, it looked more like she was analysing them.

However, for this girl, this was her moment of peace, the only time when she could read without anyone disturbing her. But, unfortunately for her, tonight was not her night.

"So~tan!" came the voice of a certain mahou shoujo from behind her, who then proceeded to give the girl named So-tan a surprise hug from behind.

"Kyah!"

"Ah~, So-tan's warmth~. How I missed this~," the mahou shoujo, Serafall, said with a blissful look on her face.

"O-Onee-sama. How many times do I have to remind you not to call me that? Please call me Sona properly, and please, do not scare me like that!" the girl, Sona, yelled with a completely red face.

"Shhh~! So-tan~, you shouldn't yell at night~. We don't want to wake up the rest of the castle~," Serafall whispered while putting her index finger in front of her mouth, and patting Sona's head.

"But, it's because…" Sona's attempt to protest was interjected by Serafall.

"Hey, So-tan~? Today, Onee-chan met a male version of you…"

Unlike her usual boisterous self, Serafall sounded very solemn. Sona looked at Serafall as if she was someone else. She had never heard her big sister talked with such a sombre voice before.

"Like So-tan~, he acted very mature even though he's still a child. I think he might be even more serious than you, So-tan. But, you know what?" Serafall asked in a very melancholic tone. "His eyes looked very sad," Serafall muttered.

"What is the name of that man?" Sona asked. Sona was curious. This was the first time her sister had shown the slightest bit of interest in someone of the opposite gender who was not one of the Maous. Maybe there was something special about that person?

"Hm~, it's Itachi, but I call him It-tan~," Serafall answered.

"W-w-what?!" Sona stuttered as she stared at her sister like she was insane.

"As I said, I've decided to call him It-tan, but he…" Serafall couldn't finish her words, because Sona suddenly started yelling.

"Onee-sama, please do not give embarrassing nicknames to people! Especially, the one you've just met!"

"Muu~! So-tan~, listen to me first~! It's true I wanted to call him that, but he rejected it, so I called him Itachi-chan instead," Serafall explained while pouting.

Sona let out a relieved sigh at this, but Serafall took it as a sign of Sona's jealousy, so she started to cuddle her even more, which caused a mess out of Sona's hair.

"Mou~, So-tan is so cute when she's jealous~. Don't worry, So-tan will always be number one for Onee-chan~," Serafall happily declared while rubbing her cheek with Sona's.

"I-I'm not jealous, Onee-sama!"

"By the way~, So-tan~, don't you miss Rias-chan? I mean, you couldn't see her this past year, because of that engagement thing, right?"

"It's not a problem, Onee-sama. We're still in contact each other, and from what she has said, it seemed like she has found a new friend that she wanted to introduce to me," Sona stated. Serafall looked at her for a brief moment, but then she continued her assault mercilessly.

"Mouu~. So-tan, you're so cute~. You act tough even though you really wanted to see Rias-chan~."

"I-I'm not…wait…where are you touching?! Onee-sama!"

And, just like that, the mayhems in a certain room inside the Sitri castle continued for the rest of the night.

xxx

 **[Gremory castle]**

" _I have a bad feeling about this,_ " thought one Uchiha Itachi when he arrived in the courtyard the next day. This was to be expected, since in front of him was the smiling form of Sirzechs who was accompanied by his ever devoted maid/wife Grayfia, and three other individuals.

"Ah~, Itachi-kun~, there you are~," Sirzechs cheerfully called him.

For some reason, Itachi's instinct screamed at him to run away as far as possible, especially when Sirzechs was making that stupid goofy smile.

"….."

"Mu! Why are you glaring at me like that?! I'm not going to eat you or anything," Sirzechs protested, feeling unfairly treated by the young boy.

"What do you want?" Itachi coldly asked. Sirzechs sweatdropped at the cold reception that he received from the young man.

"Why are you so cold to me?! What have I ever done to you to deserve this treatment?!" Sirzechs yelled.

"A lot of things," Itachi answered. "Anyway, Sirzechs-san, what do you want? I'd prefer it if I could go through the day without suffering a headache even once," Itachi stated.

"Am I that much of a headache-inducing person to you?!" Sirzechs retorted.

Grayfia and the three people behind her were barely able to contain their laughter. They had never expected to see the day it happened. The day when Sirzechs actually be forced to play the straight man to someone else.

Sirzechs felt tired all of a sudden. That comeback took a heavy toll on his psyche, and since he was used to be the 'silly man', playing the straight man was incredibly taxing to his mind and body.

Breathing heavily, Sirzechs placed his hands on Itachi's shoulders, and, with what could only be described as an awkward smile on his face, he said, "Itachi-kun, from now on you will receive trainings from my peerage."

Itachi raised his eyebrow at Sirzechs' words. "Why? I think the education here is more than satisfactory. I don't think there is a need for you to-."

"I said trainings, not education. Trainings as in training how to control and utilize your magic, training your physique, stamina, and so on," Sirzechs explained.

Itachi eyes narrowed slightly. That was too abrupt of a change. Previously, Sirzechs was content with letting him did everything by his own pace and method, so then why did the crimson-haired Maou suddenly told him his peerage would be training him? Itachi's guess was that something must have happened yesterday.

"Why so sudden?" Itachi asked, pretending to be oblivious to the fact that they might have found something.

"Well, I just thought that it's going to be beneficial for you, seeing that you live amongst devils~."

Itachi nodded as if he accepted that reasoning, bu,t unknown to them, he had already found out the true reason behind this training.

" _So, they found out,"_ Itachi thought. _"It seems Ajuka-sama really live up to his reputation as the creator of Evil Pieces system if he managed to find out about my condition…"_ Itachi silently praised. Itachi then stared at Sirzechs in the eyes, and asked, "What if I refuse?"

"You can't refuse, or rather, I won't let you refuse~," Sirzechs answered with a wide smile.

Itachi inwardly sighed. Knowing there was no chance that Sirzechs would change his mind once he had set his mind on something, Itachi had no choice but to relent.

"Alright, Sirzechs-san, I accept," Itachi said, much to Sirzechs' delight. "By the way," Itachi turned his sight to the three individuals behind Grayfia. "Who are those people?"

"They are the members of my peerage. Come and introduce yourselves, everyone."

The first person who stepped forward was a young man with brown hair. He was wearing a business suit, and the overall vibe that Itachi got from him was that of a door-to-door salesman instead of a member of a Maou's peerage.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Beowulf. I'm a descendant of the great hero Beowulf, and one of Sirzechs-sama's 'Pawns'. I will be your instructor on physical training, " the young man, Beowulf, humbly introduced himself.

"You don't need to treat him respectfully, since he is also our official lackey…." The two people behind him added, which caused Beowulf to look at them angrily.

"I'm not a lackey! It's true that I'm often have to buy grocery for Ane-sama, and take care of horses, and buy snacks for every…" Beowulf trailed off as he suddenly dropped to the ground, looking like he was about to cry at any moment. "That…sounded like something a lackey would do, doesn't it?"

"…"

"I'm not a lackey, but I did things that a lackey do…does that make a lackey?"

"…"

Itachi flatly stared at the depressed man, and sighed.

"Lackey-san…"

"You're going to call me lackey, as well?!" Beowulf yelled with tears raining down from his eyes.

"Yes, lackey-san. It's not often that I see a perfect lackey material like you. What do you say? Do you want to become my lackey, as well?"

"No way!" Beowulf shouted as he quickly stood up. "It's one thing to be treated as a gopher by colleagues, but if a kid like you starts treating me as one as well, I don't think this poor heart of mine could take it!"

"Then, do you want to bet? If you could devise a training regimen that is nothing but excellent, I will start calling you 'sensei'. However, if you failed, you will be my dogsbody. Does that sound fair to you?" Itachi asked.

"I accept! But, don't you back down from this! I won't show any leniency even if you're a kid," Beowulf declared. But then, he fearfully turned to Grayfia. "Umm…Ane-sama, it's fine…right?"

Itachi sweatdropped. Instead of asking the 'King', the 'Pawn' was more afraid of the 'Queen'. He started to wonder if they were truly members of Sirzechs' peerage, or if they were actually members of Grayfia's secret peerage.

Grayfia looked at Itachi, and she smiled at the look that Itachi was giving her. "It's fine. Give him everything you have."

"Thank you very much!" Beowulf bowed. Then, he was shoved back by a man who wore a crimson robe.

Itachi stared at the man, amazed at how much…creepiness, if he must say, he could see coming out from the man. The man, in his opinion, would look perfect as a villain in one of those fantasy anime.

The man had long, slit eyes, which made him look somewhat like a fox. However, with a shallow smile that seemed to constantly decorate the man's face, Itachi would not be surprised if the man's personality were also like a fox. Add to that were his wavy black hair, with a mixture of blond, and the staff he was holding, which overall emphasized his image as a bewitching villainous magician.

The man strode to him, and then, once he stood in front of him, he bought his face near Itachi's ear.

"Nice job motivating Beo, boy. Seems like we're going to have some fun times together, don't you think so too, cunning little vixen?" the man whispered. Itachi wasn't sure whether the man was complimenting him, or simply being sarcastic.

"I highly doubt it. I have no interest in having slaves or servants. And, by the way, I'm a man, so you should have addressed me as 'tod' instead of vixen," Itachi corrected.

"Snarky and witty, as well, huh? Looks like we're really going to have fun times together," the man said. "I was just testing your general knowledge a bit. I rather dislike explaining every single jargon that I use," the man said.

"Perhaps you should try to speak like most people instead? Not every person is privileged enough to learn 'high-class' insults, after all. Besides, what's the point of using complex words that people couldn't understand the meaning of when you're perfectly capable of simple conversation?"

"That is not the case, for people today are not well-versed in the manners of language as they used to. They abandon quality in favour of short and meaningless composition of letters."

"Is that truly what you think, Mr. _Senile Geezer_?"

The man nodded. "Aye, it is as you have heard… _rotten lad._ " The man then bowed in a manner that reminded Itachi of those so-called British gentlemen that he had seen in manga and anime. However, Itachi it was the man's way of giving him a mocking gesture. "To the young scholar, who will become my disciple, let me introduce myself. My name is Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, born in Hackney, Britain, in 1854 as Samuel Liddell Matther. I am merely a humble everyday occultist," the man, MacGregor, said.

"MacGregor is a 'Bishop', and one of the best that has ever existed," Sirzechs proudly added, though he was having cold sweat from listening to them trading insults. It wouldn't do if Itachi had a rocky start with one of his peerage members.

"I'm not surprised, he does look like wizards from fantasy games," Itachi said. "I will be in your care. It's a pleasure to know you, MacGregor-san."

"The pleasure is mine," MacGregor replied.

…

…

A heavy tension appeared between Itachi and MacGregor. Sirzechs sweatdropped at their somewhat hostile exchange of pleasantries. While he could sense the subtle sarcasms and insults that they threw at each other, Sirzechs didn't expect their personalities to clash in just moments after their first meeting.

Unknown to Sirzechs, however, the sarcasms and insults that they threw at each other was their way of showing respects to fellow knowledge seekers. Fortunately, for Sirzechs, the last man had decided to intervene in their 'quarrel', by standing between Itachi and MacGregor.

"This one would like to introduce himself, as well," the man said.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at the archaic way the man addressed himself. It was no surprise to him, however, since the man was wearing a black hakama on top of a white kimono, a light blue haori on his head, and carried a katana on his hip.

Overall, he looked exactly like how a samurai would look.

"This one's name is Okita Souji, former captain of Shinsengumi's first division, and Sirzechs-dono's 'Knight'. As you may have suspected, this one is a samurai and a Japanese like you," the man, Souji, said.

Despite his posture, which left no opening at all, Souji was a laidback man. There could even be an argument to be made that he was more laidback than Sirzechs.

However, none of that matter to Itachi. What's matter to him was his name.

"Okita Sou…ji…?" Itachi slowly asked.

"Ah~, since you're a Japanese, you might've heard about him. He's a famous historical figure in Japan, after all~," Sirzechs bragged.

Indeed, Itachi had recognized that name from anime and manga. He didn't care one bit about that fact, though. He only cared about the samurai's given name.

"S-Sirzechs-dono! This one really isn't famous at all! In fact, compared to the likes of Hijikata-dono, this one's accomplishment was nothing!" Souji frantically denied. His face was flushing from embarrassment, but that only made Sirzechs laugh. While the samurai was usually a laidback and carefree person, once his accomplishments were brought to light, he would always vehemently deny his feats, and tried his best to undermine them.

Sirzechs' laughter instantly stopped when he saw Itachi's face.

The expression that Itachi had was not his usual stoic and mature calmness. It was also not anger, sad, happy, disappointment, or hatred. No, his expression was one that people had when they spotted a cockroach that was disturbing their peaceful moment. As Sirzechs followed the trail of Itachi's gaze, he immediately struck with cold sweat, as it turned out that Itachi was directing said gaze to his knight.

"I see, so you are… _Souji…_." Itachi calmly whispered. "Can I ask you a question, _Souji-san_?" Itachi's voice, despite the low volume, managed to capture the attention of the samurai. Souji, who still had not realized what kind of danger he was currently in, only gave a nod as confirmation. "Are you, by chance, the one who introduced Human World's _culture_ to Rias?"

Hearing that, Souji suddenly became very enthusiastic, and he started blabbering things like 'samurai is the way of men', and how 'bushido is the true religion of Japan', and so on.

Throughout the (one-sided) conversation between Itachi and Souji, the rest of the peerage only shook their heads, pitying the young boy, for they knew that once Souji had started talking about his weird hobbies, it would be almost impossible to stop him.

Sirzechs, on the other hand, was now sweating bullets for reasons unknown to him, and his eyes were still fixated on Itachi's face. Itachi himself had now gathered all the proofs he needed to act against the man.

"…I've heard enough," Itachi suddenly spoke in a low voice that, for some reason, greatly unnerved not only Sirzechs, but also his peerage, including Grayfia. However, one person in particular didn't feel the tension, because he was too engrossed in talking about his hobbies.

And then, as Souji was about to talk about the 'battle of Sekigahara'…

THUD

…his body fell to the ground.

…

…

No one knew what had happened, no one, except a certain master magician. To other's eyes, it just seemed to them that Souji had just suddenly fallen on his own, but, to his eyes, to the eyes of a master magician, everything related to magic would not be missed.

The boy did not use any form of offensive spell, but he, instead, had used some form of hallucination, illusion magic perhaps, to give a subtle order to Souji's brain so that he lost control his body.

The master magician noted that the magic was not generated from a magic circle, or through any form of incantation, but rather a subtle movement of Itachi's left eye. He started to wonder how talented Itachi was for being able to use magic with just a movement of the body, and at such a young age too, he might add.

MacGregor honestly couldn't remember if there were any magician, sorcerer, or anyone who was well-versed in the art of magecraft, who could do such feats except for Aleister Crowley.

However, the master magician was wrong in his assessment. Although he was right in deducing that Itachi's left eye was subtly moved, but it wasn't the source of hallucination, or rather, illusion that he casted on Souji.

The eye movement was simply a trap to mislead MacGregor into thinking that he used his eye to do magic, where in fact he had sent Souji to the illusion world using genjutsu instead of magic, by using the slight movement of his left index finger. However, using a high level genjutsu drained Itachi's chakra, and the consequences were severe for his current condition.

" _Ugh!_ " Itachi gritted his teeth secretly. His body felt like it had been set on fire, and if it weren't for his high pain tolerance, Itachi would've already screamed in pain.

Masking his agony under his mask of calmness, Itachi approached Sirzechs. Although, he didn't realize that he was almost wobbling, and that Sirzechs had noticed that he was suffering from pain.

"Sirzechs-san…."

"Y-yes~?" Sirzechs asked with a forced smile. Sirzechs didn't want to spark suspicion in Itachi by revealing that he noticed his pain, and so he hid his frustration under a smile. However, Sirzechs was unconsciously clenching his right fist very hard to the point where blood started to drip from it.

"It seems…Souji-san does not feel well, should we postpone our training until he wakes up?" Itachi said with a slightly strained voice. Sirzechs nodded, agreeing with the Uchiha, and he gestured to the other men to help carry Souji back to his castle. "And…one more thing."

"What is it? Do you want me to hug you? That's it, isn't it?" Sirzechs cheerfully asked.

Itachi shook his head, and then, he simply asked, "What did you find?"

"…" Sirzechs said nothing. He calmly stared at Itachi with a smile still plastered to his face. His refusal to answer had instead given Itachi the answer to one of his many questions.

"I see," Itachi quietly whispered. He silently walked past Sirzechs and Grayfia, heading back to his room to recuperate. _"It's that bad, huh?"_ Itachi thought. If Sirzechs didn't want to disclose anything to him, then he could only surmise that it was either so bad for him that it'd be better if he knew nothing, or that the things that Sirzechs knew were limited, and was useless as a result.

Watching how that familiar back seemed to look very small and weak, Sirzechs swore to himself that he would find a way to save Itachi using everything at his disposal.

xxx

 **End of Chapter 3**

 **xxx**

 **[?]**

*Sniff*

*Sniff* *Sniff*

"Someone, was here."

*Sniff* *Sniff**Sniff* *Sniff*

"I, know this smell."

*Smile*

"Itachi, welcome back."


	4. Author notice

Author notice: Further delay

Hey guys and girls. Just wanna inform you that chapter 4 of The Sharingan of the Crimson Princess and chapter 3 of Iron Blooded RWBY will be delayed (further for crimson princess) because I'm suffering from heavy Tonsillitis infection at the moment and will have to be hospitalised tonight to have it removed by surgery. I don't know how long I'm gonna be hospitalised and how long the recovery's gonna take, so again I'm sorry for making you readers wait.

Peace and Out. Hopefully I'll make it out of the surgery room as a living person.


End file.
